Fireside: Rebroadcast
by HyperionGM
Summary: The Abyssal Forces grind ever onwards to their unknown and esoteric goal despite the sudden reveal of Shipgirls to the world. In what seems like a routine Japanese summoning operation, the seeds of victory may be sown. [Discontinued.]
1. A certain summoning

AN: A couple months of thinking had made me realize… The story needed a partial re-write, so I cut out the Patton segments, and am focusing more heavily on Rosie and Oregon from here on out, and on the shipgirls in general really.

* * *

 _The year is 206X of the Anno Domini calendar. Humanity is under attack from the seas where they had plied trade, harvested food, and waged war for centuries. The so called Abyssals have overrun several isolated Islands and bombarded major cities and naval bases along the coastlines, their very presence forcing the evacuation of small towns and island territories. Although initial casualties have proven surprisingly light, especially among military forces, the material damage is far higher… Hundreds of liners, merchant vessels, and warships disabled and trapped in ports, clogging up drydocks as they await repairs or scrapping, or outright sunk further out at sea. Many more small fishing boats and private craft were destroyed with all hands._

 _On land and near shore. Airport runways were cratered, coastal railway lines and highways shattered, major ports smashed to pieces and oil rigs rendered inoperable. And while humanity's weapons prove effective against the land and air forces of the Abyss, they were found to be utterly worthless against their warships._

 _Drones, long the vaunted weapons platform of the future, had been rendered worthless against the Abyssals, who scramble targeting data and rendered control signals impotent with mystical energy. Not even Nuclear weapons or railguns could take down Abyssal ships or installation-classes, being absorbed by energy fields or regenerated at a disturbingly fast rate._

 _As if in response. The first entities known as shipgirls appear. Legally classified as Semi-Biological Terrestrial Entities, these warships in human form can more effectively fight the warships and installations of the Abyssal fleet, smashing past their defensive shielding and regenerative powers. Japan, Britain, Italy, Russia, France, Canada, Australia, and the United States of America proceed to attempt to revive the strength of their old navies through these so called Fleet Daughters._

 _In the United States, only some of the pre-war carriers plus a handful of CVLs and CVEs, have apparently to remake the once vaunted American Carrier forces, while most of the Battleships of the US Navy emerged to retake their glory in turn… Their legendary wartime carriers have largely remained seemingly out of reach… So far as anyone outside the upper echelons of the US military and intelligence community know… As has the Superbattleship USS Oregon._

 _Meanwhile in Japan… A summoning is about to get very interesting…_

* * *

Admiral Hiroto Nakamura stared at the summoning chamber as Kaga stood next to him, two technicians overseeing the Large-Scale summoning process, nicknamed Large Scale Construction or LSC internally, from a series of consoles, fairies were scattered about. The _Tosa-_ class battleship raised an eyebrow.

"Are you certain we need another carrier? Those four _Zuikaku_ -class girls have proven to be rather… Annoying at times, but nonetheless capable." The battleship muttered.

"Houshou and her sister, the first Shoukaku, have stated that our navy is too heavy with Destroyers, Battleships, and light cruisers. I am inclined to agree with them, Izumi, Mikasa and Fuji with their 51cm guns are useful… But we need planes… Badly…"

"Very well then… Start the procedure." Kaga ordered.

The armored windows, enhanced by the same arcane sciences that created shipgirls to be capable of taking anything short of a direct hit from a nuclear weapon, opaqued as the summoning chamber brightened, the environment inside quickly becoming hostile to anything not a shipgirl or a fairy.

"Sir… You think it's gonna be another CA?" One of the technicians, Hirota according to the name embroidered on his uniform, questioned.

"I hope for our sake it's not… Besides what heavy cruisers and battleships do we have left to summon?"

"There's always…" Kaga started.

"She's not coming back to us Kaga… The way the we left her to rot in Simpson Harbor at Rabaul, while we saved everything else of value ensured that." Nakamura sighed, the event in question was a sore point in Japanese military history, and particularly with the IJN shipgirls.

"Hiroto…" The battleship murmured softly.

"My great grandfather died trying to put out the fires raging in her engineering spaces before they just abandoned her. Leaving his wife and two-year-old son behind" The rather youthful man admitted. "Kaga, I'm only at this position because they arbitrarily picked someone, anyone, in fighting shape that had a decent knowledge of old naval tactics, or someone who could learn them fast enough anyways… Even after Yamamoto and many other Imperial Officers were summoned as part of the "leadership renewal program" I'm still one of the few go to men in the self-defense forces…"

"Akagi and Admiral Yamamoto seemed close." Kaga muttered.

"He was her captain once. That's why he chose her as his secretary ship."

"That girl has no pride as a battleship…" Kaga mused halfheartedly.

"Your argument is weak Kaga, you're usually better when clashing words with Musashi…" Nakamura teased, eliciting a blush in response.

"With all due respect sir, save it for the bedroom." The other technician joked, earning a couple scowls. "Yeah, I get it, not funny." He promptly grumbles about killjoys.

"Sir… Something's happening… The ship is ID'd as a carrier, but the tonnage is listed as over forty thousand tonnes…" The first technician muttered.

"Accelerate construction then." Nakamura ordered and a group of ship construction fairies unseen to the window crew moved up, firing ten rapid construction devices, glorified flamethrowers turned welding devices, into the energy flux that was typical of a summoning.

"Only a handful of carriers were that big in our navy and we've summoned all of them…" Kaga mused.

"Not all of them Kaga… We had one more postwar… _Taiyou_ …"

"But sir Taiyou has already been…"

"The Taiyou I refer to is an ex-US Navy _Midway_ -class carrier purchased in the late seventies as part of the refinement of the Self Defense forces… The former USS _Franklin D. Roosevelt_ …"

"Sir… She participated in the Battle of Samar… With… her… as escort…"

"The past is the past Kaga… She spent thirty years as a ship of the Self Defense Forces…"

"But what if the Americans want her back immediately… We'll be trapped in another 'Indestructible' situation like we were with the British…"

"We'll come to that impasse when it's time…" Nakamura sighed as the light began to clear. Revealing exactly whom he thought it was… He sighed and tapped the mic, catching the green haired shipgirl's attention.

"I am Rear Admiral Hiroto Nakamura of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces… I understand you must be confused to be summoned in Japan instead of the states… But all will be made clear as soon as we can clear you for a briefing on the state of global affairs…"

The rather voluptuous young woman standing on the summoning floor below nodded, her piercing golden eyes seeming to track Nakamura and Kaga's movements as the two moved to confer with eachother.

"Sir… There's more than a few girls who will want her dead… The _Hiei_ sisters for what happened to Myogi and the _Taihous_ for what happened to Kenhou and Jinhou… And for the _Hakuryuus_ … Well you get the point…"

"Contact high command… We need this locked down before someone does something stupid and ends up pissing off the Americans…" Nakamura ordered.

Kaga spared one last glance at the shipgirl down in the summoning chamber. "Yeah… Let's hope that it doesn't lead to World War IV…" She mused.


	2. Scuttlebutt

AN: And here's the 'rewrite' for this chapter

A lot of this is the same for these re-writes, just improved layouts, but in some cases, major changes _will_ occur.

* * *

If one had told the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen that she'd be taken as a war prize and impressed into the service of a foreign Navy, she would have laughed.

USS Bismarck wasn't laughing at that thought anymore, at least the Americans didn't threaten to scrap her like Hitler in one of his tantrums.

As of now she was currently the secretary ship of the naval base in San Diego, working alongside Lieutenant James Connolly, one of Admiral Sarah Mitchell's staff workers, both unrelated to the more famous officers sharing their last name. Kidd snoring away in front of a stack of paperwork, having passed out. Her former pirate shenanigans had been toned down in favor of being professional, that and the CNO had made it clear that shit won't fly these days given the view of military personnel as rigid professionals in the eye of the public.

"Can we finally go to bed now…" The blond-haired cruiser said before yawning. "we've been up all night…"

"I know Bismarck… Maybe we could leave this for the fairies to finish up…" Connolly muttered.

"Alright then… Go-" Bismarck began before the phone range, sighing as she picked it up. "San Diego Naval Base, USS Bismarck here… What…" She shot up and put a hand over the voice pickup. "James… Our week just got a hell of a lot busier…"

"What now…"

"The Japanese summoned Rosie…"

Connolly spat out the water he was drinking. "Aw Christ… Wake up the Admiral and ring up the Pentagon in case nobody else has bothered…"

"James what about…"

" _Oregon_ hasn't done ass since she was turned into a museum ship, she's just been sitting on the Willamette, attracting hipsters, military enthusiasts, the occasional protest, and Japanese tourists. But she and Rosie were close for a long time… It was rare to see them apart after Samar… So I have no idea what will happen now"

"But ships that spent significant amounts of time together are more likely to return if one of the pair or group is summoned."

"I know, but if Oregon doesn't want to come back the nobody can force her, least not of all the nation that threw her away before the raid on Rabaul in 1942…"

"Yeah, she never seemed like the type to forgive a slight like that…" Bismarck admitted.

"Anyways… I'm going to prepare for the inevitable shitfest that will be the upper ranks and the state department in light of this news…" James said while rubbing his temples.

"So… I guess our date is cancelled…?"

"Pretty much… And to think Admiral Mitchell gave us the okay too…" He sighed and slumped into his chair as the exasperated cruiser swore in German.

* * *

"You're kidding right." Kaga asked incredulously.

"I'm not, the diet wants us to integrate her into our chain of command ASAP if the Americans give us the okay, we can't exactly transfer her to the US right now due to a lack of transports." Hiroto muttered.

"Sir, with all due respect this will go about as well as our joint exercise with the Russian shipgirls, except we won't have Sovetsky Soyuz, Stalingrad and Sovestky Rossyia to hold our more rabid girls off."

"I know this… And I will make it clear to them that you know who will be alienated even further if they harm Rosie… Maybe we could pair her with Ushio…"

"Ushio is off in Pearl Harbor to visit her hull for therapy reasons..."

"Ah yes… We're closing in on that time of year again… Poor girl… Anything else while we're on this subject?"

"Yuudachi wants to go to Long Beach again to see her hull… She won't give up the fact that Portland captured her will she…"

"She's as stubborn as a dog." Nakamura intoned offhandedly as he flipped through a series of forms.

"Indeed… Back to our previous subject… Are you certain this will work…?"

"We have nothing left to do but try…"

"Understood…"

At that moment, the phone rang. "Nakamura here… Yes… I'll inform her…" He sighed and set down the handset.

"I want an assembly just after reveille… We're integrating Rosie into our forces here for the time being as an irregular…"

"Very well then sir… Shall I have the JGSDF detachment put on standby?"

"Not funny… But do it anyways…" Nakamura sighed as he slumped at his desk, knowing there were only so many ways this could turn out.

* * *

Meanwhile across Ishinomaki Naval Base there was constant chatter about the new summon.

"Maybe it's Yamato!" One of the more impressionable destroyers chattered aloud.

"Nah it's gotta be one of the super cruisers that were laid down but never completed."

"Oh oh! Maybe one of the Number 13-class ships!"

And such was common amongst the shipgirls and enlisted men and women. But for Musashi there could only be one option…

 _Her_ , the 'lord' that her older sister had sworn herself to, not unlike the bond between Shinano and Yahagi that spawned during Ten-go… And as much as Musashi hated to admit it, Yamato did have legitimate grievances with Japan, had the admiralty been more cautious she would have been deployed at Truk instead of Rabaul. But the damage report from Henderson field had been positive, and as such nobody anticipated the presence of USS _Wasp_ and USS _Constellation_ until the two fleet carriers had already crippled _Yamato_ and sank Akashi's sister _Mihara_.

To say Musashi had been shocked when she'd faced her sister's guns at Samar had been a supreme understatement as the Imperial Military had generally believed the Americans would have torn her apart for scrap or sunk her out at sea.

But _Yamato_ had died the day the US Navy took her in, refloated, repaired, and modified her, and in her place USS _Oregon_ had been born. After all, why give up such a powerful warship in easily serviceable condition, especially one who's capture and impressment would both demoralize their enemy and drive them into a rage.

The irony was palpable, the Americans had picked a name with more symbolism to it than the more predictable Montana ever would, even if that name wasn't already locked in by the most powerful of their standard type battleships.

"Oregon… A land of opportunity and new beginnings for the people who risked their lives and families to go there… Very well then Rosie… Let us see if your return heralds a new turn in this war, and the return of my sister…" The amber skinned battleship murmured to herself as she walked back to the battleship dormitories.


	3. Crisis of identity

AN: And here's chapter 3. Expect things out of this re-write.

* * *

In Portland, Oregon the immense form of a massive super battleship sat along the waterfront, the towering pagoda mast reminding observers of a tiny skyscraper, her massive 18" guns long silent, having just missed out on the Third World War due to a lack of spare parts and ammo during the initial cutbacks in the late eighties. Serving as a memorial and a symbol to the peace and friendship between the United States and Japan following World War II.

Currently the ship was being guarded by a detachment of the Oregon Army National guard and the Portland Metropolitan Police Department, and everything seemed calm on the outside.

But USS _Oregon_ has been anything but calm for the past day.

* * *

 _Rosie… Must find Rosie… Must make sure she's okay…_

Y͟OU ̡STI̸LL͘ ͢W̶A͢ŅT ̶TH́ÀT ̕W͏HOR҉È ̢WHO ̶S̕EDUC͟ED͡ ͡Y̕OƯ ̵AWAY FROM͢ O̸U͟R ҉NA͡TIO͜N, ̷ O͠UR̡ ̀SI͞S͡T͞E̴R͘S?!͏

 _You do not understand how she gave me purpose for so long… After I was the pride of Japan and they TOSSED ME ASIDE! WHY SHOULD I RETURN TO THEM!?_

AN͘D Y͡O̷U WIL̢L͞IN͢G͝LY͡ F͝IR͡ED͝ ͝U͢P͠O͟N ͏O͝U͡R SÍS̀T̡E͡RS͢

 _I wish that we had not encountered each other that day… But my duty was clear, protect Rosie, protect the landing forces… If my former sisters had to die, so be it."_

AND ̧Y̨E̶T͘, H͏AREK̸A͠ZE AN͏D͞ ̀HI̧D̴OAMȨ GO̴T ̶PAS͞T͢ ͏YOU

… _I offer no excuses for that failure, my only consolation is that they did not succeed in their endeavor…_

F́A̛CÈ ͡ĮT, ͠ Y͢O̧U͟ ͜A͏R͞E W͠EAK, ͝ A ŖONIN͞ W҉ITH̷OUT A ḾASTER̴, LET ME T̵AKĘ CH̷ÀR̀G͢E͠ ÁND T̸E͢AC̕H ͢THE̢SE ̢F͘O͝OL͢S̕ W̵HAT À ̷S̡A̛M̶ŲRAI҉'͞S̢ H̸ONO͝R͢ MȨA͞N̢S!̕!

 _NEVER! YOU WILL SIMPLY DO AS YOU ONCE DID TO SO MANY WHO NEVER DESERVED THE ATROCITIES YOU COMMITTED IN THE NAME OF YOUR EMPEROR AND NATION!_

I ͏W̡ÌL҉L̨ ̸MA̸K̡E̸ YOU BOW͡ TO̵ ͞M̢E!͠!̢

 _How can I bow to a twisted version of myself, dragged down by anger and denial? We are symbols, but first and foremost we were TOOLS._

.͞.. ̶I͏ w҉ìl҉l m͝a͏k͢ȩ y͡o҉u̡ se͠e̴ ͜my͢ ̛w̡ay ǫf̧ ̛th́i̸ngs i͠n ̸t̷im͘e̵.

 _I doubt that highly..._

Ẃè ͠s̛hal̵l ͏s͞e̷e̛.

 _Indeed..._

* * *

All the while, the hull of the mighty super battleship bobbed imperceptibly on the calm waters of the Willamette river, no signs of the turmoil brewing in the very soul of the vessel.

"Jesus this is boring…" One the techs working on keeping the Gernsbacks maintained muttered to himself.

"Yeah and Carmichael has his fat ass sitting in a climate controlled M9A2 Gernsback!" The second

The head of the humanlike Arms Slave turned to face the specialist who'd insulted its pilot before raising the hand not holding onto its 60mm rifle and giving them the finger.

"Fuck you too Simon, fuck you too." The second man muttered in response.

"Why the hell did they make Arms Slaves anyways? Wouldn't a tank be better for most things?"The first tech muttered.

"They thought that… Then a squad of early Bushnells wiped out most of a Soviet armored column with a close-range assault during the third big one while they were transiting through Central Germany, poor bastards never stood a chance against them at close range where the AS could literally just cut the tanks open with their molecular cutter knives. Or fire down through their thin turret and hull roofs. Nobody ever questioned the tactical value of such machines again." Stated the third technician, busy working on the leg of the other Gernsback.

"Jesus Christ…"

"Yeah… Every half-wit thought that AS would replace tanks, yeah they replaced some tanks alright, but mostly light tanks and TDs to a limited degree, not MBTs, meanwhile Labors partially replaced armored cars in the military, and supplement existing heavy machinery and some kinds of emergency vehicles in both military and civil environments, you getting the picture." The tech continued as the first one nodded.

"There's also a big psychological thing to a massive humanoid mech coming at you like an angry giant out of some old mythology. Even tank doesn't have the same impact on the human psyche." Another added. "But these things are a fucking bitch to maintain as a counterweight."

"Yep."

"Besides, a tank is good for literally one thing, killing shit. An AS can do that and so much more, SAR, logistics, special ops, constructing field-works in lieu of heavy equipment, etcetera, course labors are better for a lot of the non-combat stuff anyways thanks to their more… Adaptable nature. Besides congress likes the fact it's so versatile, makes it easier to justify purchasing large amounts of them with taxpayer dollars." A fifth chimed in.

"SHUT UP NERDS!" Someone jeered in the distance, probably an infantryman.

"FUCK YOU TOO ASSHOLE!" One of the techs shouted as they and the Arms Slaves universally gave them the finger while laughing amongst themselves.

* * *

Rosie twitched uncomfortably as she felt dozens of pairs of eyes on her.

"Sir this isn't going to end well…" Kaga whispered to Nakamura.

"We don't have a choice…"

The silence following the first part of the announcement was deafening before finally someone spoke up.

"What is _she_ doing here."

"Rosie will be working alongside us for the time being until the JMSDF and US Navy can work out an agreement on what to do with her.

"THE FUCKING BITCH TRIED TO KILL MORE THAN HALF OF US!" Zuikaku yelled indignantly.

"Would you rather it be Enterprise, Zuikaku?" Kaga responded.

The olive haired carrier fell silent for the most part, grumbling something he wasn't exactly sure about.

"Regardless of how any of you feel about this, that's what's happening. If I find out about any of your harassing or god forbid harming her, you'll be answering to a court martial that might or might not ending in scrapping depending on the severity of the charges. AM I UNDERSTOOD?"

Nakamura was one of the Admirals who tended to treat his shipgirls more humanely, those in the US tended to as part of policy but generally that was considered an outlier. It would have been career suicide for them not to anyways.

Kaga stepped forwards. "And before any of you start again, she was purchased in 1978 for service in the JMSDF entering service as Air Defense Vessel Shin'you, as a Japanese vessel, Rosie earned numerous citations for her service in World War Three, where she narrowly survived a Chinese combined air-sea attack, at the cost of two hundred or so of her crew, most of her air group and the loss of two of her escorts." She let that sink in, most of the IJN shipgirls refused to believe the Chinese were anything resembling a major power despite their massive population combined with the now post-industrialized state of mainland China and their general hatred of the Japanese for trying to subjugate/exterminate them.

If telling them that the ship that sank two Kagerous in a close-range gunfight while simultaneously battering Musashi, Shinano, and Tajima into submission with her air wing nearly got killed by the PRC and lost two modern escort ships in the process, one of them an AEGIS vessel, to make the point, then so be it.

The scene had since devolved into mild grumbling, mostly from a few of the more 'sassy' girls.

Rosie sighed before looking up. "I didn't want to make a fuss…"

"I'm sorry, a lot of the girls got bleedoff from the resurgence in nationalism we had in recent years…"

"I see…" Rosie looked down sheepishly, well insofar as the 7-foot-tall fleet carrier could without staring down at her massive breasts.

Nakamura sighed, the carrier had been rather confident until he had informed her of the situation… Now she was a nervous wreck… Although he couldn't exactly fault her for being an American carrier in a metaphorical sea of potentially hostile shipgirls.

"This is going to be a trying time isn't it Kaga…"

"Undoubtedly sir…"

Nakamura simply rubbed his temples in response. "Alright then, Rosie, go socialize a bit if anyone lets you okay?"

"Yes… Yes sir…" The carrier mumbled and walked off a destroyer making a rude gesture at her in the distance before getting whacked on the head by the Mogami-class cruiser Takase.

"Kaga… I need a drink…"

"You and me both sir…"

* * *

Across the sea from Japan, Tank Commander Lieutenant Dimitri Aminev stared at his marching orders in the mess hall of one of Vladivostok's recently built defensive bases, the driver of his T-14 Armata, Andrei Beketov stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What is it this time Dimitri? We going out to kick Abyssal ass or just jerk around the defense perimeter?"

"Hush Andrei, let him speak." Dimitri's sagely gunner, Fyodor Stoletov muttered.

"Our orders are to head out and secure the terminus of the upper trans-siberian railway set… The lower one is secure but we've had reports of Abyssal tanks and infantry in the area of the North…" He muttered.

"Our mighty T-14 against those Wartime Junkheaps? Bah, we'll be done with them in an hour."

"Don't be so overconfident Andrei… We lost three Zy-99 Arms Slaves and a pair of L-110 Labor Units to them."

"Fyodor is right… Against a Patriotic War era tank the mechs should have torn them to shreds… By virtue of fire control, co-ordination and speed if not armor, and especially at close ranges where any tank would have literally no defense."

"I still think they were exaggerating that."

"Regardless we have our orders, we meet up with the other battalions in six hours before we head out."

"Got it… Anyways did you see that Gangut is being deployed over here? Maybe we're going on the offensive."

"And?"

"Well why else would they deploy a section of the Baltic fleet over here?"

"I doubt it is to co-ordinate with the Japanese, and the PLAN has very few shipgirls of their own. Most of them ended up with the Taiwanese."

"Eh, you never know, we could be picking up China's slack on this one."

At that, Dimitri facepalmed as Andrei began a rather one-sided debate with Fyodor, the next few weeks were going to be grinding on his patience weren't they.


	4. Ghosts of the past

AN: I mentioned Rosie nearly being sunk as _Shin'you_ here's a look into that engagement. In all honesty, I have no idea how a WWIII attack on a carrier group would have gone in all the minute detail but since Japan in all honesty would have based their modern carrier defensive doctrines on those of the USN it stands to reason the Chinese would have simply re-used the Soviet 'throw enough men, ships, planes, and missiles at it and we might be able to kill or disable the damn thing with minimal losses should we be lucky' doctrine. All those Russian ships and planes you see shadowing US Carrier Groups during the Cold War were fully expected by both sides to die after trying to radio in the general location of the Carrier and its escorts and maybe dealing a bit of damage

On the other hand, there are no A-10s left in service in this timeline because the Soviets shot most of the units produced down with SPAAGs, SAMs, MANPADs, and local air superiority, The US simply wouldn't have the assets to fully cover a conflict the size of a dual front war with the USSR and the PRC.

I mean the Iraqi's in 1991 shot down or caused irreparable damage to _seven_ A-10s.

And this is only the fucking Iraqis with their shitty conscript training and their supposed 'elite' formations being what most armies would consider _regulars_ in terms of skill.

Then again the entire purpose of the A-10's robust design is to keep the pilot alive as long as possible while under heavy ground fire even at the cost of the aircraft, which it succeeds at for the most part.

No Naruto is not named after overhyped Shonen crap, she's named after Naruto strait, which follows the example set by Mamiya.

* * *

 _December 7, 1994, near the Taiwan Strait_

"Admiral, our next set of orders from JMSDF command have arrived." A rating announced as he walked onto the bridge of the _Shin'you_ , handing the sheet of paper to Admiral Atsuo Domon of the JMSDF.

"Hmm… Alright then, contact the fleet, tell them to adjust heading by thirty degrees to starboard."

"Aye Aye, thirty degrees to starboard"

The fleet followed _Shin'you_ 's movements as she turned. Consisting of the carrier, her escorting guided missile destroyers, the _Yukinami_ -class ships _Myogi_ , _Zao_ , _Kumano_ , _Akashi_ and _Suzuya_ , the _Hatakaze_ -class _Fubuki_ alongside the destroyer escorts _Ooi_ , _Kuma_ and _Tatsuta_ , and the _Shirane_ -class DDH _Mutsu_ , with several support ships and the modern submarines _Ushio_ and _Shikinami_ , which had been built with an experimental AIP system as part of a study for the next class of Japanese attack submarines, as the sole 'Forward Air Defense' fleet in the JMSDF, the squadron was therefore the best equipped in the Maritime forces of Japan.

* * *

Three hours after the course change one of the Hawkeyes picked up something on its radar.

"Sir, incoming air and sea contacts."

"It's the damn Chinese, scramble all ready fighters and bring the fleet to combat alert, and contact the Americans and tell them the party is about to begin."

"Aye aye sir!"

Admiral Domon watched as the ready F/A-18J and DJ fighters roared off the _Shinyou_ 's flight deck to join the existing combat air patrol.

"May god preserve us if the Chinese decide to say 'damn the casualties'." He muttered darkly.

The bridge crew watched the Tactical screens as the waves of Chinese aircraft swarmed towards their battlegroup, the attack boats had been driven off and the shadowing guided missile destroyer sunk by the _Ushio_ , while the _Shikanami_ sent a signal reporting the sinking of an enemy attack sub, everyone sweated visibly as the radio chattered off reports from the air group and the CIC's of the escorting AEGIS ships.

After twenty minutes the last two F/A-18s they'd spotted on the forward deck were airborne, as were the KS-3J Vikings there, as a last-ditch scenario the recently launched planes were laden with drop tanks in case they needed to run to Taiwan should the worst come to pass, while two old F-4s were being moved up to the bow catapults next.

"INCOMING MISSILES."

The faint booms of 5" and 3" guns could be heard as the deck guns of the fleet, including _Shin'you_ 's own portside 5" gun open up on the incoming missiles with proximity fused rounds joining the short range SAMs flashing out to intercept those that got past the initial defense of longer range missiles.

Domon could see the faint trails of the missiles even as the CIWS mounts of the ships farthest out opened fire, the combined barrage managing to skewer several of the ASMs even as the _Zao_ took a direct hit, the flash of her rear VLS cells detonating briefly silhouetting the vessel as she broke apart towards the stern. Meanwhile _Tasuta_ took an ASM to her fore section and almost immediately exploded, the forward 3" magazine of the _Abukuma_ -class DE blowing up, sending men and shrapnel flying into the air while those still able to move began to abandon ship and help others to the rafts.

Then _Shin'you_ shuddered violently as she took a direct hit, knocking a munitions cart off the port elevator and into the sea, a Seahawk going down with it, while a second missile broke through the fire from the port deck gun and CWIS mounts, it slammed into the fore half of the Island and everything went dark.

* * *

Rosie shot up in a cold sweat, startling Mutsu who had been enjoying the warmth provided by the carrier.

"Nnh… What happened… And why are… Oh…"

Rosie continued hyperventilating as Mutsu rapidly realized the girl was having a panic attack.

"Rosie… Please, calm down… You're fine, everything is fine." The battleship cooed as she rubbed the larger girl's back.

After a few minutes Rosie began to breathe normally again.

"Rosie, what happened…"

"I was dreaming about the Taiwan Strait battle… Fucking Chinese and their ironic bullshit… They picked the anniversary of Pearl to take a swing at me…"

"The battle that nearly killed you... You lived so that's a success I guess…"

"They killed _Zao_ and _Tatsuta_ … So I still failed to protect my battlegroup…"

"The whole point of even an escort ship is to die if needed to protect its charge, they took missiles that could have been intended for you. Like how a bodyguard is sworn to give their life for the person they are to protect should they have to."

"This conversation would be more meaningful if we were clothed…" Rosie deadpanned.

Mutsu giggled. "I guess so. Did anyone ever tell you that you look like a character from Code Geass?"

"What? Where'd that come from."

"Yeah there's this immortal who's one of the main characters and you look a bit like her but taller and more… Curvaceous~"

Rosie simply stared in full-on deadpan.

The faint thrumming of a Jigabachi attack helicopter on a local sweep in the distance punctuated her silence.

"Alright, alright, we'll get dressed and go see what's going on today."

"You still didn't answer my question as to why you brought that up."

* * *

"And that is why you need to restrain yourself Mutsu"

"Yes sir…" The battleship mumbled.

"Anyways, take Rosie to Tone for her sea tr-" Nakamura was cut off by a rather panicked Ooi rushing into the room and quickly closing the door behind her.

"Hide me"

"Is it Kitakami again?"

"YES! SHE WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"You can hide under the used blanket in the Corner" Nakamura stated without missing a beat.

"THANK YOU!" Ooi dove under the musty articles of cloth and made it look like a small unkempt mound about a full minute before Kitakami entered the room.

"Admiral, have you seen Ooichi? She's gotten out of my sight again~"

"She jumped out the window." He thumbed at the window which had been left open for cooling purposes, not that Kitakami would know.

"I'M COMING OOICHI!" She yelled as she jumped out the window.

"Already calling Momotori sir." Kaga said as she held her cell-phone to her ear.

"Excellent work Kaga."

The audible sound of Kitakami falling three stories and slamming into the bushes caused Rosie and Mutsu to flinch.

"Is she okay?" Rosie asked with more than a bit of concern.

"Shipgirls can survive being hit by a speeding Semi-truck without their rigging, albeit badly injured by the collision." Ooi stated matter of factly as she poked out of the pile of sheets.

"Oh…"

"Anyways, I should get going before something else happens" Ooi sighed before walking out of the room.

"What was up with that…"

"Ooi was the sole survivor of the _Kuma_ -class, thus making Kitakami a bit… Obsessive as a result…" Mutsu explained.

"Ah…" Rosie murmured.

"What was with that look you gave her Rosie…?"

"One of my escort ships during WWIII was named _Ooi_ …"

"Oh… Well name reuse is a thing… This Ooi was decommissioned after a stint as a training ship in the JMSDF, about 1949 was when she left service if I believe."

"How did Kitakami sink sir?"

"She was hit by a torpedo fired by HMS _Templar_ , had the timing been a second off it would have hit her in the stern instead of the aft engine room." Nakamura said.

"Oh..." Rosie suddenly looked sheepish.

"Anyways you two should get going for Rosie's trials…" Nakamura ordered as he continued his paperwork.

"Got it sir, if everything goes well we'll report back if Kaga's not doing anything for you~"

"Mutsu."

"Yes…?"

"Go."

* * *

Rosie sighed as she deployed her rigging, Tone and Ooi watching from one of the piers, a tablet in the hands of the torpedo cruiser.

"Alright, ready… GO!"

Rosie shot forwards to commence her trials as the two watched.

"She's doing better than Shoukaku already…" Tone observed.

"That one was always a little clumsy." Ooi muttered.

"Yeah I guess so. Anything new regarding your sisters?"

"Anything new regarding your obsession with not wearing panties?"

"Touche, you've been like this for a while… And I'll have you know I wear panties… That Chikuma on the other hand…" Tone mumbled something as Ooi tried to change the subject.

"Kitakami won't let me sleep half the time because she's so fucking clingy… Would I be that bad if the roles were reversed…?"

"I dunno."

"Hey… Ooichi stop running around like an idiot…"

"BUT SOME IDIOT IS BACKTALKING YOU SOMWHERE! Wait… Why do I feel like I just insulted myself…"

The two shrugged and returned to watching Rosie.

"She has a nice ass." Ooi muttered.

"Keep on focus Ooi."

Rosie skidded around another corner, before reaching the firing range portion of her tests, launching a group of F8B 'Fivers', F8F Bearcats, TB2D Skypirates, and F7F Tigercats while training her secondary and AA guns on several targets.

"Ready… Go!"

Ooi wrote down another observation as Rosie's continued her combat tests. "Nothing short of amazing for our standards, but that was to be expected from a _Midway_ -class carrier."

"I guess…" Tone muttered.

"So, how much you think she's gonna eat?" Ooi muttered.

Tone simply shuddered upon remembering what she read about the _Midway_ -class and imagining the supply requirements.

* * *

Food supply ship Naruto cried for a very long time that night after Rosie virtually cleaned out the Kitchen to get a full resupply despite the _Mamiya_ -class girl's best efforts to satisfy her immense appetite, even Musashi and Kaga, themselves the two heaviest eaters in the Ishinomaki district outside the carrier force, were utterly stunned by the sheer amount of food Rosie had all but inhaled.

"And I thought Iowa and Saratoga were big eaters…"

"Is… This… The true power of the _Midway_ -class…" Someone muttered in the background as Rosie belched loudly before covering her rapidly reddening face in her hands.

For Kaga, seeing Nakamura scream at the added expenses was worth it, since it meant he was more liable to use her as a comfort pillow. Well It was almost worth it anyways… Now to coax a certain bird into apologizing and setting an example for the others who hold grudges against Rosie.

* * *

Zuikaku slammed her face against her dresser, no matter what she couldn't stop being a tsundere long enough to properly apologize to Rosie in her practice runs, and she'd inadvertently made Shoukaku cry in the process. "Fucking idiot…"

"Hey turkey, come on." Kaga said as she prodded her.

"Oi, shut it you hag."

"Mutsu's the hag remember?"

"Ya think that matters to me?"

"Just let it come out from the heart or something? Make it meaningful because you mean it. Now go ahead and say it." Kaga had a sizable smirk for some reason.

"Fine, sorry for being a complete asshole to you Rosie… I looked back and realized it was rather hypocritical of me to be so judgmental when this is supposed to be a second chance that most will never get… Ever…. So, can we let bygones be bygones and start over? How'd that go…?"

"It went well." Kaga stated as if it were fact.

A rather flustered looking Rosie peeked around the corner as Zuikaku cursed Kaga's name.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in the previously mentioned AU._

"Did you say something about me fifth cardiv?"

"What…?"

"I didn't think resorting to denial was a tactic of yours. How _American_."

"YOU WOT YOU FUCKING BI-"

* * *

"Why do I feel like we just missed out on something?" Kaga asked.

"Shut up"

"Just hug it out you two~"

"NOBODY ASKED YOU MUTSU!" Zuikaku yelled.

Mutsu prodded Rosie on the shoulder

Despite the protests of the Auspicious Crane, she was hugged by the Brooklyn Girl anyways.

Unfortunately, Zuikaku's luck partially ran out as Rosie had forgotten exactly how strong 212,000 horsepower translated into raw strength.

"AGGH ME SPINE!"

And this was followed up by a trip to the infirmary. Thankfully Zuikaku didn't hold it against her, as she herself had broken Shoukaku's laptop by accident after getting her engines upgraded and whacking the thing when she was getting pissed off at a game.

Shoukaku had received an invite to the unlucky ships' tea after that incident.

Being Shoukaku was suffering sometimes.


	5. Phantom Feeling

AN: Yeah I cut out the historical figures from this chapter, they're being reduced to cameo roles for the most part, except Halsey because plot reasons.

I should have left them as that anyways, especially for someone as naturally polarizing as Patton.

* * *

Rosie shuffled awkwardly around Mutsu as they dressed in their proper uniforms, the latter of whom was still considering what would have happened if they'd actually gone to the next step.

"Alright, there's a sortie out today, and you're on emergency standby Rosie."

"So, do I just head to the command center or the docks…?"

"Docks, keep your radio on and monitor the assigned channel sets."

Rosie nodded as she finished slipping on her M20 vest and securing it up with some difficulty.

"Alright, if you need me, I'll be in the command center." Mutsu stated.

Rosie nodded in response before walking out of their room, leaving Mutsu to stew in her thoughts for a bit before she too exited the room.

* * *

" _Explain yourself at once Grey Ghost Hime."_ Her direct superiors, and the true leaders of the Abyss, despite what anyone but a certain hime would say.

The former USS Enterprise remained silent, her casually hostile look and stance would have in the criminal underworld caused people to recall Revy Two-Hands, one of the more infamous gunslingers of the mid '90s.

Not that anybody knew what became of the once infamous Black Lagoon Company, rumors varied from saying that they were betrayed by Hotel Moscow and gunned down, or wiped off the face of existence by the PLAN and Soviet Navy while trying to flee Ronapur during World War III, while others claimed that they had gone straight after a narrow brush with total annihilation courtesy of the invading Communist forces. Only the Abyss knew for certain what had happened to such interesting individuals so linked to the sea, and the Abyss was an esoteric entity that if it did say anything it would probably give a noncommittal answer.

Nor would the Abyssals actually cared anyways, they would have just been a minor impediment even if they hadn't wasted away long by now due to disease or old age, or had been killed outright.

But all that was beside the point. What Grey Ghost cared about was that the Admiral-class Abyssals were pissing her off, they kept her on a short leash for a reason while the Demons and Princesses carried out their will as directed by the few 'Empress'-class theatre command units.

That reason was she didn't care for their shit, all this smoke and mirrors bullcrap, if they'd hit hard and fast they would've overrun much of the planet already, or at least caused enough of a slaughter to start waking up their land based brethren en-masse.

But no, the morons had to disagree so much that they decided making examples out of a few scattered Islands to 'lower human morale' after the initial attacks were finished was the way to go... All that did was piss them off, didn't these idiots use to be human? Then again, what did you expect from people who thought terror bombing would break the enemy's will to resist.

Although some did her tell that her style of attack would have led to a mass awakening of shipgirls in response, instead of the gradual awakenings that took place over the course of many months, by which time a substantial chunk of Africa and the region around the South China Sea had fallen into their grip.

Not that this was a better alternative, then again, did they even have the forces to commit to such tactics? The existing disagreements among the leadership precluded that anyways she mused.

" _I did what you wanted, the psychological impact it had on the enemy was enough to make a Yamato-class vomit in horror and disgust, which is more than any of you fucks have done."_ Grey ghost muttered while picking at one of her fingernails

"… _WHY YOU L-"_

" _ **ÈNO͢͞U̢G̡H! TH͢E̴ LO͘T ͠OF̡ Y͢ƠU͢ ̀ST҉AY̷ ÝOU̢R ͏T͟ON͏GUE҉S͠ ̡UN̴LE͟SS͞ ͜THE͟R͠E̕ I͟S ̛AN̡ÝTH͡I̕N̷G M̕EANI͜N͢GF̧U͏L҉ ҉T̕O̡ ̛S̀AY!"**_ The Ominous rumble of the occupant seated at the center of the curved table intoned a degree of finality.

" _As you wish my lord…"_ The sufficiently cowed Grey Ghost responded unwilling to provoke the ire of the Abyssal leader sitting at the center of this committee.

" _Tch…"_ The Admiral-class who was cut off mid-response muttered.

The committee speaker finally spoke again _"Now if that is all, Grey Ghost… We want you to find and capture or sink the newly summoned CVB-42, such an asset sunk for a time or converted to our side would shatter enemy morale, we cannot keep fighting this blasted psychological war while our enemy ramps up to wartime production."_

" _Rosie? Heh, I want to get that traitorous Jap-loving bitch anyways on principle, she won't get away from me. And it's about time you fucks treated this seriously too boot"_ The Abyssal Princess smirked as she slammed a fist into her hand.

" _Then do so."_ The conference room faded as Grey Ghost Hime opened her eyes and grinned, her trap was about to be sprung.

* * *

Nakamura, Mutsu, Kaga, and Kashima stood in the command center, watching a series of screens and tactical displays provided by the EVA system, marking the locations and paths of the girls on sortie.

"Nothing yet sir" Zuikaku reported.

"Keep an eye out, this lack of even light activity worries me…"

"Yessir"

"Have Rosie, Musashi, Suzuya, Ooi, and four destroyers locked into the emergency launch catapults for rapid deployment."

"Roger that" One of the operators responded.

"And for god's sake get a drone out there to monitor them."

"On it."

"Eva, notify Yokosuka and Ominato if we require immediate help."

"Affirmative Admiral." The AI responded.

Nakamura stared at the display table, contemplating what was going on. "The sonobuoy net picked up a sizeable force why haven't they shown up… Unless… DEPLOY THE RESERVE FORCE NOW, PUT THE BASE ON COMBAT ALERT!"

Everyone began furiously tapping screens and keyboards as the orders were carried out within milliseconds of them being issued, EVA already updating the other Naval districts and military bases across Japan of the change in Ishinomaki's combat status as alarms blared throughout the base.

"GET OUR AIR WINGS IN THE SKY NOW!" Someone shouted into their headset mic.

"Air units deploying" EVA chimed in.

"Coastal batteries and AA defenses on standby."

"Point defense guns raring and ready to go sir!"

"Naval units under attack." EVA announced in her typical monotone voice as about nineteen surface contacts suddenly appeared and promptly surrounded Zuikaku's six ship force, crossing their T in the process.

"WHAT THE! WE NEED BACKUP ASAP! GA-!" The transmission cut into static although Zuikaku's dot remained active, reading at moderate damage, Nakamura assumed her radio had been knocked out and grimaced.

"Sir…"

"I know, they hid underwater until our girls passed through, change the patrol routes and deploy additional sonobouys when this is finished."

"Yes sir." Kashima acknowledged before walking off.

* * *

An alarm blared in the docks as the various shipgirls inside tensed, their own general quarters alarms blaring throughout their bodies and rigging. The sound of land based aircraft roaring into the sky was faintly heard by Rosie as a buzzer rang and sent her shooting forwards towards the water with the others, barely maintaining her balance.

Rosie leveled her flight deck and launched a sizeable number of planes, deciding to keep her trump card in reserve as many of her Skypirates, Five in Ones, Bearcats, and Tigercats rumbled into the sky, some breaking off to form a strike group and the remainder staying around for any developments.

"Contacts are forty kilometers out…" Suzuya reported as she got a status update.

"At this rate, they'll be sunk before we can physically see the battle…" Mutsuki muttered.

Rosie nodded, by being limited to about 25-28 knots due to Musashi's combat speed, they wouldn't reach the battle zone for about an hour, and while Musashi could open fire at over 20km, her fire control at those ranges was abysmal for her initial shots, meaning she had a very high chance of accidentally sending a shell plunging into one of their own instead of an Abyssal without someone spotting for her.

That left Rosie and Suzuya as their primary striking weapons via their planes, something that Ooi and Musashi had begrudgingly accepted, even if the latter was carrying N1K1 floatplane fighters for local air defense.

"So, Rosie… Why were you named after a man that was still alive, doesn't the USN typically see that as bad luck or something?" Fubuki asked as they sailed.

"It was a political thing between the Navy and some New York politicians, they approve funding for new warships, and the Navy has Brooklyn and Pennsylvania build them, with other businesses in the state supplying these efforts, the heads of the Brooklyn Naval Yard chose FDR as my namesake since he was instrumental in helping the deal go through, which helped alleviate the effects of the depression in the state due to the stable, if temporary jobs created by a massive shipbuilding project with earmarked funding, and him being a native son of New York City, where I was built, didn't hurt either. Even if he and several admirals were initially opposed to the naming before the public got involved. It apparently caused more than a few arguments in several Navy circles…" The carrierstated

"Similarly, _New Jersey_ , BB-62, was named by my namesake to repay a political debt he owed to the Governor of New Jersey, Charles Edison, who helped him secure votes in the 1940 election and helped push for the construction of the _Iowas_ during his tenure in the Navy department." Rosie explained in what seemed like a single breath, leaving Fubuki blinking.

"Besides I was unlucky enough to come under direct attack at Samar, a nightmare situation for a carrier. Isn't that right Musashi?" She quickly added while the _Yamato_ -class rolled her eyes.

"I didn't understand half that because of your accent Poi." Yuudachi chirped.

Rosie simply muttered something in what Fubuki thought might be Italian, of course it could just be the Brooklyn accent.

"Warning, incoming enemy aircraft" EVA chimed into their radios, causing the formation to tense up in anticipation as about two dozen Abyssal planes dove from the skies.

"Roger! Commence evasive maneuvers!" Rosie shouted as the eight of them began maneuvering, firing into the formations of incoming Abyssal aircraft with every AA gun at their disposal, Suzuya even using her 203s as dual-purpose guns given their elevation limits, a couple flights of Rosie's Bearcats and 'Fivers' engaged in a dogfight with the Abyssal aircraft.

"Those aircraft… They're not standard Abyssal types…" Ooi mumbled as she watched the very distinctly Hellcat and Corsair like fighters approach, guarding twisted Helldivers and Avengers.

"No… They're not… Our enemy is the former USS Enterprise…" Musashi muttered as she narrowed her eyes.

"Just like Fubuki's other self Poi?"

"Great… So, we ran straight into a fucking trap…" Suzuya groaned.

Rosie simply glared into the distance, loading another clip of planes into her flight deck, the first of the .30-06 caliber 'bullets' in the Johnson LMG styled clip marked 'Husker' on it.

"Alright Bill… Show me the pride of a warrior…"

Rosie raised her flight deck and pulled the trigger, sending an F9F Panther with the same callsign as on the bullet marked on the frame of the cockpit canopy screaming into the sky.

For some reason the Gayatri Mantra sprang into Rosie's mind as that one F9F-5 roared off her deck and into the sky.

* * *

In Portland Oregon, something unexpected had just happened. The USS Oregon museum had been surrounded, at least on one side, by LTVs, a few IFVs, Arms Slaves, Labor Units of both military and police origin, a few tanks, SWAT Trucks, Police Cars, and many National Guardsmen and Police Officers following a disturbing glow reported to emit from the ship a few hours ago, which was followed by a section of the waterfront being closed off by first responders and the ship's guard detachment while reinforcements arrived, a trio of utility helicopters circled overhead as they awaited further air support.

Dozens of men, women and machines took aim as a woman with long brown hair in a ponytail stepped off gantry and saluted, illuminated by spotlights, her uniform that of a _Yamato_ -class shipgirl, but boasting some minor changes such as the very noticeable American flag wrapped around her left arm.

That and the notable replacement of her fire directors, AA guns, secondary guns, and many other visible components on her rigging with American counterparts wherever it made sense.

"USS Oregon, BB-69, reporting for duty!"


	6. Act on Instinct

AN: Here's the next chapter. Expect a few things here and there.

The USS Flagg as she appears here is in her GI Joe Resolute design, which is funky enough to work in a 2040s/50s setting.

And yes, the M61 Schwarzkopf is a modified version of the Type 61 MBT from Gundam, I really like the thing to an unhealthy degree, and I've updated the concept to make it comparable to modern MBT developments.

* * *

" _We are going to have to act. If we want to live in a different world."_ – UN Secretary General Corina Strausser, in the aftermath of the Abyssal first strike.

* * *

To say George S. Patton was a happy man was an understatement, as he was going to see firsthand what modern combat was like.

Watching as a platoon of USMC M61 Schwarzkopf MBTs rumbled past him to load onto an assault ship, the US Warships in the Caribbean and the Atlantic had been boxed in and forced up several rivers and bays instead of severely damaged or sunk, a major strategic mistake on the Abyssal's part since the Shipgirls had largely cleared out the Abyssal Submarine and Surface patrols in what was literally their backyard, now it meant that their opposition in Cuba was poorly defended by Naval Power, with the biggest threat being Submarines and Aircraft.

The M61A4 as he had learned was the latest version of a joint Israeli-US Design based on the older Merkava tank as a replacement for the venerable M1 Abrams, its turret boasted two autoloaded 130mm cannons capable of both linked and asynchronous movement and fire. With a .50 caliber machine gun in a remote weapons mount near the commander's hatch, another remote mount with either a 7.62 or another fifty on the gunner's hatch and one co-axial 7.62mm MG for each of the gun mantlets, the vehicle was a force to behold, with modular mounts for 30mm chain guns, active and passive defense systems, advanced sensor units, and SAM launchers.

These things made the fearsome German Schwerer Lowe and Mammut superheavy tanks look like glorified dumpsters in comparison, and this isn't even mentioning some of the prototype heavy assault war machines that Patton'd heard about that could take a tactical ballistic missile to the face and remain functional.

And here he'd been excited when the M27 Pelham medium tank entered service along with the M24 Chaffe, M26 Pershing, M95 Ringgold assault gun and the M34 Longstreet heavy tank in '43, Patton would have honestly preferred more Pelhams and M36s compared to the Pershing, Ringgold, or Longstreet, the latter three of which kept falling behind his advance so often he ended up trading them with Bradly for more Pelhams, Chaffees and Shermans.

Although a substantial amount of M1A3 and M1A4 Abrams remained in US service they were largely stuck in reserve or national guard units if not in mothball, but even still, a sizeable number of those tanks were being staged alongside Blackhawks, Cobras, Apaches, Super Hornets, Bradleys (Patton would never understand why they'd name an IFV after an infantry officer), Strykers, LAV-25s, Humvees, B-1 Lancers, and the such, to say the US Military was taking this seriously was an understatement

"General I'm not sure you're supposed to be going with them…" The rifleman assigned to be his minder stated.

"By god even if this mission is full of leathernecks, I know how to perform an Amphibious assault, besides, can't learn shit about modern tactics if I don't see them in action for myself."

"Not up to me sir."

"WELL THEN FIND ME SOMEONE WHO CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT!" Patton yelled, causing the younger man to salute and rush off.

"Goddamn, I know we improved the ability for our troops to take the initiative but fucking protocol is still a pain in the ass."

Patton turned to see the force of ships laid out before him, most moored in Mobile Bay due to a lack of docking space, five Amphibious assault ships, four landing platform docks, numerous support ships, frigates, cruisers, submarines and destroyers, the _Ford_ -class Carrier _USS Franklin D Roosevelt_ , the old _Nimitz_ -class ships _Nimitz_ and _Dwight D. Eisenhower_ , which had been mothballed instead of scrapped as they were more amenable to upgrades than CVN-65 had been, the unique CVNC-99 USS- _Flagg_ and her oddly shaped experimental layout was also present in port, laden with advanced aircraft belonging to the taskforce codenamed Sigma Six, shipgirls flitting in and around the assembled warships, the force that overran Cuba must have been massive to warrant this many assets being deployed at once.

To round it out the Battleships, BBGN-01 USS _Arizona_ , and BBGN-02 USS _Oklahoma_ the first two of a line of five built back in the 2030's to supplement the US Navy's fire support mission utilizing 12" linear cannons were docked in port, both ships looked like a hybrid of a Zumwalt, a Burke, and an Iowa-class to Patton, what with the trireme hull design, staggered superstructure resemblant of the Burke or similar designs from Japan and Korea while also boasting low observable fire directors. Three 5"/62 caliber guns in semi-retractable 'stealth' mounts on either side of the superstructure for six secondary turrets, two sets of VLS cells mounted in near the centerline, laden with SAMs, ASMs, ASROCs, ABMs, and cruise missiles, two forward and one rear single barreled linear 12" gun mounts in retractable low radar observable carriages not unlike the Zumwalt's 155mm guns, while finally there were some 30mm chainguns, CIWS mounts, SeaRAM missile launchers, with machine guns and laser emitters to round out the weapons suite, while a sizeable helipad and hangar elevator sat at the back of the ship just aft of the rear turret and VLS cells, overall the basic design rather resembled the basic layout of a _Yamato_ -class Battleship in Patton's eyes.

"Hmm… Damned if the Japanese weren't onto something with those under-deck hangars on their Super Battleships…" Patton mused as a line of LTVs rolled past him, followed by APCs and IFVs.

The ground rumbled as a group of Arms Slaves, mostly M11 Testarossas and M9 Gernsbacks, followed by varying models of military labor units and a line of M23A4 Titan Walkers and M44A5 Wolverine assault hardsuits were moved over on massive transport trucks as Patton whistled appreciatively.

"Hot damn! Someone get me one of those!" George exclaimed as several Marines chuckled nervously nearby.

* * *

Zuikaku grimaced through her bloody vision, one problem of being a shipgirl is that if your radio antennas or just the radios in general were taken out while your rigging was on, it typically meant you had become mute until it was repaired. Such was the conundrum she found herself in, glancing over to see Mogami hanging limply of the shoulders of Urakaze and Naganami, while Ryuukaku hyperventilated next to them, Inazuma simply clung to Zuikaku's skirt in sheer terror, crying.

Apparently, the abyssals had intercept some girls in transit to Ishinomaki. Kamoi, Shimushu, and Kunashiri were being guided next to them by the Abyssal cruisers and destroyers.

Nobody knew what would happen to a captured shipgirl and Zuikaku _really_ didn't want to find out.

Suffice to say that if any of them so much as twitched wrong they Abyssals would knock them out and tow them back anyways… Or just sink them and have something beneath the waves retrieve their corpses for later use…

Their fates were entirely in the hands of the reserve force.

* * *

Musashi fired another salvo from her main battery at enemy surface contacts her radar had picked up, while her AA guns and catapult fighters swarming the torpedo bombers coming after her and Suzuya, Rosie's AA alone had already swatted about a half dozen planes from the sky since the enemy fighters were too busy trying to not die to their own boom and zoom tactics courtesy of the Midway-class girl's F9F-2 squadron.

Rosie remained eerily silent throughout this, only calling out new waves of incoming aircraft and the typical warnings, her 'war personality', so it were, showing itself as she blasted another fighter from the sky with her 5" guns.

This suited Musashi just fine, nothing was as distracting as someone chattering away during combat.

Ooi looked off to their side, spotting the forms of four enemy destroyers, a fast battleship and a heavy cruiser. "SURFACE FORCES CLOSING, BEARING 070!"

Musashi turned glaring at them as her main and secondary batteries redirected to face the new threat, Suzuya followed her lead and the destroyers and Ooi formed a screen around Rosie as they prepped their torpedos.

At that moment, a flight of F8Bs dove from the sky on the Abyssal force, four F8Fs following them, firing rockets, dropping bombs and strafing, two Abysal destroyers burst into fireballs as rockets and bombs hit them, the Ne-class heavy cruiser screeching as she took repeated hits, while the remainder of the abyssal squadron retaliated with AA fire but suffered numerous hits from a second run, knocking out another destroyer and moderately damaging the Ta-class.

Musashi's frown turned into a smirk, she could work with these odds.

* * *

" _DAMNED FOOLS"_ Grey Ghost Princess cursed as the flanking force engaged early, the idiots had rushed in and were now paying the price for their arrogance, assuming the American carrier had sent all her strike planes to engage the main taskforce, now her fighters were being dragged down to defend their worthless hides, not that it mattered since they were all dying regardless, at this point she was calling off her remaining planes and withdrawing them, they could recover the dead anyways and revive them for future battles.

But something was seriously concerning her now as the battle dragged on.

 _Where were those damn strike planes_.

* * *

One of the Ri-classes had gotten sick of Inazuma's constant crying and had stuck her cannons in the destroyer's face and was about to trigger the firing mechanism when a faint drone rumbled in their ears, Zuikaku saw the Abyssal's eyes go wide right as a howl picked up and the Ri-class cruiser's face was suddenly removed by a surprise Tiny Tim rocket, Zuikaku totally didn't shit herself because of that, really.

F8Fs, F7Fs, F8Bs, and TB2Ds ran rampant among the hapless Abyssal prize squadron. Strafing, torpedoing, bombing, rocketing and generally causing hell while the Shipgirls' fairy crews took the chance to fight back with whatever they had on hand, smashing the faces of the Imp prize crews in with wrenches, stabbing with knives and forks, one unfortunate Imp had their eye gouged out by a spoon.

Zuikaku and Ryuukaku were the first to recover the initiative as the imps were overrun by their sizable crew complements, both carriers opening fire on the Abyssal destroyers with their 5" guns.

A fairy perched on Zuikaku's rig ran up a series of signal flags to indicate her loss of radio communications, while Ryuukaku directed the formation to turn and make for the reserve force and the base at best speed, both carriers launching their planes into the sky, with Ryuukaku giving the orders to them.

A dozen torpedo bombers rushed in to try and stop or at least delay them but were beset upon by a finger four of Rosie's F9Fs, which had slipped away from the dying dogfight over the reserve force and cut them to pieces, the Jet fighters roaring over the awed shipgirls and the unconscious Mogami as they waggled their wings in a salute before flying off.

* * *

Nakamura grimaced as another wave of enemy surface contacts approached to the rear of the recently freed friendlies.

"Air units engaged." EVA chimed in as the LBAS units swarmed in on the abyssal sea and air units and began causing angry red dots to flash out of existance.

"About damn time, what took them so long?"

"Co-ordinating a full base scramble requires additional C3I assets sir." EVA droned.

"Noted, begin construction of additional LBAS control and support facilities."

"Affirmative Admiral."

"Shall I have the girls stand down?" Mutsu asked

"Keep them on alert for a bit, can't be too careful in this case."

"Roger that."

Kaga put down the handset for long range communications, face pale.

"Sir…"

"Yes Kaga…?"

"Tell Musashi and Rosie that Oregon is back…"

"Oh shit." One of the technicians muttered.

Mutsu simply blanched and tried to make herself look smaller.

"How are we finding out about this now?"

"Well aside from the US press blackout on the incident, she kind of made a big deal about not wanting Japant to know of it and is apparently currently demanding a refit to her 1944 standard so that Yamato will stop screeching inside her head about something or other…"

"Great… So, she's totally insane… Or at the least has a split personality disorder…" Nakamura muttered, the man rubbed his temples as he contemplated how to move forward with this.

"Command is on the line for you sir." EVA added unhelpfully.

"Goddamnit."

* * *

Rosie watched as Musashi took Mogami over her shoulder while the destroyers, kaikobans, Suzuya, and Ooi fanned out to guard their flanks, her repair parties were already checking Zuikaku over.

"What happened out there?" Musashi questioned.

"They just popped up out of the water all around us, Sonar didn't pick up shit, they were probably not even moving until they sprang the trap."

Musashi frowned, this wasn't typical of the Abyssals to be so patient, so it was undoubtedly a more experienced or sensible Hime or Oni in command of this force, which meant that it truly was Grey Ghost Hime as she'd assumed.

Unnerving.

* * *

Admiral Sarah Mitchell sighed as Oregon twitched in her chair again while Vulcan and Medusa examined her.

"Yep… I'd advise the refit, it's risky but her mental instability could end up with her going Abyssal if we don't act soon."

"Agreed." Medusa muttered.

"Alright, alright, I'll have James, Bismarck help me and Kidd fill out the undoubtedly long series of paperwork after this is done, after he stops fucking the cruiser's brains out…"

"Why did you even put that forwards anyways?"

"They're cute together, besides if experience with my husband has shown anything, sex is a hell of a stress reliever."

"No need to be so candid Ma'am…"

"Quit calling me Ma'am, makes me feel old."

"You're nearly sixty."

"Says the girl who's over a hundred." Mitchell muttered as she sipped her coffee and Oregon's eye twitched again for no apparent reason as Vulcan continued inspecting her.

Medusa made a hissing noise in response.

"Just give her the damn refit Medusa."

"Fine… But you're taking responsibility for it if anything goes wrong."

"I'll be sure to let Kidd know she's being promoted."

"Very funny Medusa."

"Alright Oregon, let's get you refit."

"R… Right…" The Battleship mumbled as she rubbed her temples while being led off by the repair ships, one could vaguely hear Kidd going off on Taffy 3 again in the distance about needing to keep their shit in line outside of combat.

Just another one of those days Admiral Mitchell mused as she sipped her coffee again.


	7. The die is cast

AN: Interestingly enough the IJN did have its own, much smaller secret police force called the Tokkeitai, who also acted as political officers in a manner not unlike Soviet Commissars in addition to various other roles, some rather typical others more… unsavory. They also clashed with the Army's Kenpeitai (as far as I can tell that can also be spelled with an n) on numerous occasions over jurisdiction and other such things. Both forces were replaced after WW2 with an expansion to civilian police responsibilities and the Keimutai who act as a normal military police force for the JSDF (As far as I know there's no separate force for the MSDF or ASDF).

Also the Interstate TDR as far as I can tell is the first unmanned aerial vehicle to be used in combat, with STAG-1 IRL expending 50 TDR-1s against Japanese shipping for no human losses, with 31 confirmed hits on target. STAG-2 is a fictional unit that never existed, although since this is an AU, so long as I keep it within the realm of reason I can screw with things as much as I feel like.

* * *

Nakamura facedesked as Kaga gave him a massage.

"Calm down Hiroto…"

"Some of the old IJN guys want me to demand Yamato back from the Americans, to the point they're arguing we use Rosie as bait, some of the MSDF members agree with them, others argue that it is her decision as she is now fully sapient, more view her as the rightful property of Japan but are unwilling to do anything or are undecided, and then there are the guys who called her a traitor before I called them out in turn.

I mean the IJN dumped her on the metaphorical curb and I stated that by doing so, they should have fully expected someone to come and pick up the thing they abandoned and possibly treat it better."

"That was a low blow, even if it was accurate…"

"It's not wrong besides, viewing you girls as tools is just… There's something wrong with that picture since you're alive and fully sapient, you act no different from humans despite originally being literal war machines."

"I guess? Anything else you'd like to add? Or do~?"

"No Kaga."

"Spoilsport." She pouted, he really could never tell when she was being serious about that or not.

"Just help me fill out the damn paperwork."

Kaga beamed at him in response.

* * *

Sarah Mitchell slurped her Coffee as a test to see how stoic Oregon could remain while being met with annoyances like overly nationalist Japanese, the Battleship had just come out of her first stage of refitting, and was sore all over given how thoroughly she had been remodeled, her next refit supposedly let her carry 51cm guns but that was basing it off the planned Japanese fittings for the rest of her class.

The Seehund style IR devices based on those that had been captured from the _Bismarck_ -class _Hindenburg_ when she had been scuttled in Casablanca harbor during operation torch, Sarah never quite understood the German obsession with scuttling, were apparently part of Oregon's eyes now, giving her moderately improved night vision compared to most shipgirls.

Her old 127mm battery and 155mm wing turrets had been replaced by 5"/38 caliber Mark 28 DP mounts, emplaced in a manner not unlike her upgraded sister ships in the IJN, fire control and direction had been enhanced significantly with US Radar, fire directors and improved centralization and communication, her fore and aft 155mm mounts and been replaced by the same autoloading 6" Mark 16 DP guns that would later be mounted on the _Worchester_ -class cruisers.

Meanwhile her pitiful 25mm AA guns had been replaced by a mix of a massive number of Oerlikons and quad Bofors mounts, with a few twin bofors guns here and there as space permitted. As with her main and secondary battery, her AA fire control had been massively improved.

Finally, Oregon's air group had been replaced by Kingfishers, an entirely unsurprising change since they were one of the most common amphibious planes in the US inventory aside from the PBY, SB2C-2, SO2U, PB2Y, PBB and the PBM.

A lot of other minute details in Oregon's rigging had gotten changed but not much else otherwise, and her main battery had yet to be replaced by the 18"/47 Mark A guns and turrets she received after Torch due to the inability to replace the IJN 46cm ammo stocks and the US reluctance to use the admittedly rather crap IJN turrets, those likely came with the second remodel. She'd heard the Superheavy shells on those boasted equal or superior performance to the 46cm Type 1 Shells.

"Alright Oregon? How do you feel."

The Battleship puffed out her chest in pride a little too far before hurrying to prevent her breasts from popping out of the Iowa-class styled uniform that had replaced her old one, Sarah was never able to understand how anyone wore the damn thing regularly, although the skirt was still vented like Oregon's old one for whatever reason, which meant that the girl's panties were visible sometimes, much to her embarrassment and Mitchell's amusement.

"I'll take that as an, 'I feel fine' then."

"Not funny…"

"You still getting those voices in your head?"

"Only the one that identifies as Yamato… And she's just mostly quiet for now…"

"Good… I guess… Anyways you're on the next Orca airlifter heading to Ishinomaki."

"That sounds… WAIT WHAT!?" Oregon half-screamed, causing Kidd to fall out of her chair in the waiting room.

* * *

"You understand your mission correct?" A figure in a darkened conference room in a Tokyo skyscraper questioned.

"To monitor the traitor and the American, and eliminate them should they prove a threat to Japan's interests."

"Very well then, you may commence your mission Izumi. For the glory of the Japan."

The lead ship of the _Izumi_ -class superbattleships bowed in response.

"My 51cm cannons will make short work of them should they become an issue." She stated as she walked out of the room.

The man chuckled. "And people back then thought crewing an entire battleship with specialized Tokkeitai members was a bad idea. Then again these were the same people who required examining British, Italian, German, French, and American gunnery results in the 1935 Pacific multinational exercise to discover our gunnery standards were horrendously miscalculated." He sighed and looked at the ashtray from the earlier meetings in disgust, wondering why his shortsighted colleagues and superiors could not see that the world was at a crossroads, and whoever controlled the most powerful Kanmusu force would dominate regional and even global sea-lanes in the post-war situation.

Anyone believing that old grudges die easily is insanely naïve and overly idealistic in his mind, and he knew for a fact there were stirrings in Britain, France, Spain, Greece, Taiwan, Turkey, Russia and Italy about using Kanmusu against their traditional rivals.

The Europeans and Russians wanted to further reduce the already crippled German economic dominance in the Eurozone by any means possible to them, many of the more jingoistic factions in Britain blaming the Germans for the loss of their global Empire, despite it being in decline due to the active growth of nationalism across the globe, and as the German surface fleets of the past aside from the High Seas Fleet of the WW1 era were second-rate compared even to the interwar French or Soviet Navies, which had benefited from various naval and industrialization projects that were intended to provide a maximum six to one local dominance over Germany and Italy.

None of the more radical factions in these nations, except maybe the UK, would be suicidal enough to pick a fight with the JMSDF or USN though, not with the amount of possible shipgirls for them to call upon.

And while Kanmusu were indeed girls, first and foremost they were military personnel, and would follow their orders for the most part, many of them had taken human lives in their past life, and if ordered to do so for a good enough reason they would again.

He smiled. Such was the way of the world after all.

* * *

The part that unnerved and aggravated Patton the most before a major operation was the uncertainty, especially when anything naval was involved. Would enemy ships or aircraft come after them in force? Would a Submarine strike an important ship at the worst possible moment with a torpedo? Would fast attack boats ambush a vulnerable transport?

At least with the sheer number of shipgirls flitting about the risk was reduced, Patton mused as he gazed over an operator's shoulder as he stared at one of the fleet tactical displays in the USS _Flagg_ 's Tactical and Strategic Information Center (TSIC), which was separate from her CIC.

It was amazing to George how fast C3I technology advanced, the networking systems received, processed, and disseminated vital information across everything on the network, while it was a vulnerability should someone slip a trojan program through somehow, the payoffs were more than worth it in terms of coordination and command and control.

If he were to have been totally honest, Patton was insanely jealous of the amount of information that modern commanders had on hand at any given moment, the exact locations of their troops, the locations of all detected and tracked enemies, known locations of civilians to reduce collateral damage as much as is possible, while drones circled above, watching all view of their baleful eye.

And the drones today were a damn bit more impressive than the old Interstate Aircraft models like the TDR, which was a damn impressive bit of technology for the time and of itself. Patton had managed to read on Wikipedia that STAG-2 had participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf sinking the _Ibuki_ -class Heavy Cruiser Bandai with torpedoes dropped by TDR-1s, confusing the Japanese who previously viewed them as Kamikaze style suicide aircraft and unnerving the Soviet Union, British Commonwealth, and much of the US Military's extant command structure with that milestone achievement, all of whom had initially viewed unmanned aircraft as little more than a novelty than an effective weapons system.

Back to his original line of thought, there was just this odd feeling that there would be some big challenge ahead of them, Patton had always firmly believed in destiny and reincarnation, two beliefs that had been vindicated recently, and he did believe that some form of providence was looking out for him so he could fulfill that destiny, particularly since he'd barely survived things like the storm that claimed Amelia Earhart back in the thirties.

"Well, let's see if my luck holds up, probably send the others a postcard when we reach Guantanamo" He mused as they drew ever closer to the Cuban coastline.

* * *

Rosie was suddenly remembering how much she hated the Japanese summer, at least it wasn't the South Pacific…

Electrical fans had been strewn about the base's buildings, to the point that anywhere you could fit one, a battery powered fan had been used in place of a plugged in one due to the considerations of the power grid on base.

Rosie and the four Zuikaku sisters lay strewn about in a corner Naruto's café alongside other shipgirls ranging from Kaikobans to Mutsu, who seemed very much unbothered by the heat, in varying states of undress, with the hapless Shoukaku having been forced to remove her panties due to them being drenched in sweat, everyone else too overheated to make her go get a fresh pair.

Nearby, Musashi sipped her ice water, having forgone wearing anything more covering than her skirt and sarashi due to the heat, questioning why the other shipgirls would congregate in one location if it meant that their body heat simply warmed them faster than they would be cooled if too many of them were in one room.

Outside a group of Keimukan ran on their regular PT run through the base.

"Nnaaagh… Too hot…" Jun'you muttered as she sat in her underwear.

"Are you drunk already?" Musashi questioned as Suzuya fell off the stool next to her and splayed out on the relatively cool tile, mumbling something unintelligible while Ooi gave her a look at the same time as she whacked Kitakami upside the head again for getting in her personal space.

"Fuck no, too hot for drinking… Well anything except water that is…"

"Agreed…" The superbattleship muttered.

Mutsu looked up from her work phone and sighed before walking over to Rosie and whispering something in her ear, the Armored Carrier's eyes widening before she shot up and out of the Café with surprising speed, managing to somehow grab her things in the process as Mutsu sauntered over to the counter and sat down next to Musashi.

"What was that about…?" The amber skinned battleship questioned.

"Nothing, just your older sister's ETA to the VTOL landing pads."

Musashi promptly spat out the water that was in her mouth, managing to rival Rosie's speed as she rushed out of the Café herself.

Somehow the spray ended up all over Shoukaku although Zuikaku and a couch were physically between her and Musashi.

The ever-unlucky crane cried for some time afterwards despite everyone trying to reassure her it was a fluke.

She would get an invitation to another unlucky ships tea four days later.

But that's another story involving Suzuya, a British U-Boat and a bag of Fritos.


	8. Just do it up

AN: And here's where the big action starts to come in.

Also for anyone confused on what the term Anthropomorphic means regarding the last lore chapter, it just means something with human features.

So basically any humanoid mech or robot is anthropomorphic.

So I was going to focus heavily on the battle, but then I realized there is only so much I could go into and doing overly big picture stuff and focusing on way too many people has brought down better written stories like Strike Witches Quest.

So yeah.

Expect inaccuracies, especially if any of my readers are trained in amphibious assault maneuvers.

* * *

Patton stared out to shore, watching the latest wave of QF-16 drones roar in and bomb the abyssal coastal defenses.

The admittedly pitiful Abyssal squadron based at Nipe Bay had been sunk by the US shipgirl force assigned to the invasion effort, and while the Southern side of the Island was still secure against land and naval threats, they needed to link up with the Marines at Guantanamo.

Thus, the area around Nipe Bay had been chosen for the invasion site, a natural harbor that was close enough to Florida to limit the amount of time supply ships spent in transit.

Being close to Guantanamo so that a unified front could be formed was also a plus.

While plenty of suitable sites existed closer to Havana, they also undoubtedly featured squadrons of Abyssal PT boats that would make their lives hell.

The torpedo boat concept had outlived the old era battleships it was meant to kill after all.

Another wave of missiles hammered the beach and more than a bit inland, while the sounds of naval gunfire from FFGs, DDGs, and CGs, the linear cannons of the battleships, and the howl of bombs from a flight of B-21 Raiders echoed in a grand symphony of hell. Some of the shipgirls had gotten close enough to fire their 40mm AA guns into the beach defenses, tearing apart exposed Abyssal infantry.

George grimaced, wishing that they would get this over with sooner or later.

* * *

Grey Ghost Hime sighed as she slid into the Roanapur harbor, the crime capitol of the Thailand had inadvertently attracted the attention of Indochina War Hime, the exact Abyssal Grey Ghost had come to see, crass and perverted as the far more powerful woman was.

Her gear vanished in a cloud of black smoke as she stepped ashore at the ever busy and _heavily_ fortified docks, passing groups of Abyssal dockworkers, their faces obscured by welding masks, who were aiding an Armored Carrier Oni and her forces who had taken heavy damage from a Japanese shipgirl patrol.

Climbing aboard an Abyssal M3 halftrack that had been waiting for her she sighed as the twisted machine's engine growled and it rumbled down what had once been Ronapur's main thoroughfare, now a heavily fortified path leading directly to Indochina's 'palace', while not as ornate as those some other high ranking Abyssals had deemed to construct, it was so heavily fortified it could probably punch out the combined might of Humanity's World War II era fortifications simultaneously in a fistfight.

Artillery and Anti-Tank cannon barrels of calibers from 37mm to 406mm, light, medium, and heavy AA guns, machine gun emplacements, pillboxes, rocket launchers, V-1 and V-2 launchpads and rails, and even early SAM launchers, bristled from every logical surface, and even some that weren't, glistening chitinous armor plate covering every side of the damn thing.

And this didn't even count the firepower provided by the waves of defense lines, flak towers, naval squadrons, the land garrisons, air wings and the coastal and airfield defense batteries.

The fucking eyesore took up most of what had been the city center of Roanapur, which had been almost entirely leveled during WWIII and once again during the Abyssal seizure of the city.

Yet, for all its inability to attain aesthetic sense… It was a practical fortress, boasting living quarters, storage, production plants, armories, command centers, farms for growing food, Grey Ghost questioned their need to eat as she herself never needed to at any point in the past few months, and many other necessities.

The halftrack rumbled to a stop and she stepped off, marching inside the immense gates past the Abyssal 'Big Joe' AAFVs with MP markings each holding a 75mm short cannon in their right hand and and assault shield strapped to the left arm of both units, their distorted, blackened steel glinting in the hot Southeast Asian sun, as she passed them into the, quite possibly living, structure.

Once inside she was escorted by two Abyssal Wehrmacht troopers wearing protect gear, a late war innovation that effectively turned a man into a walking armored car and boasted primitive low light vision capabilities and even thermals, while Germany had failed to mass produce an effective version beyond a handful issued to elite Panzer Grenadier and SS units, it had influenced the design of later armor suits used by various nations in WWIII and even the modern Battlezone control armor or Zone Trooper Armor used by the US Military.

The two of them took the lead and after about ten goddamn minutes of fast walking they reached Indochina's personal throne room, it wasn't for nothing that she was considered an Empress-class in all but title.

The doors loudly creaked open, while an annoyance to Grey Ghost she had to admit it was an effective security feature as it meant infiltration was nearly goddamn impossible using the doors.

Stepping inside she stopped and stood before Indochina and her… Grey Ghost suppressed a sigh. Her Harem of lesser Himes, Onis, and some elevated rank and file Carriers, Battleships, and Cruisers.

Admittedly Indochina rewarded initiative and withdrawing instead of taking needless losses, as such she was indeed one of the more popular command ranking Abyssals, this combined with her more lecherous habits meant her inner circle was often well 'rewarded'.

Indochina laughed aloud her powerful voice booming as she spoke. _**"Well now? What brings you to my palace of excessive firepower and ecstasy Grey Ghost? Got fed up with Midway, Lycoris and Central being useless whores who only suck the dicks of the Admiral-classes and relay orders like the good little fuck puppets they are?"**_

" _Something like that… I need your help to bring me and what's left of my forces to a new standard, your bitch of a sister basically kicked my ass and I FUCKING HAD THAT GODDAMN TURKEY TOO BEFORE SHE SHOWED UP!"_

Indochina chuckled. _**"Well now~ Maybe if you basted the Turkey's giblets instead of throttling her you'd feel better? Anyways I'll help whip you and your girls into shape, Singapore and her subordinates still owe me for saving their asses from the British and Japanese four weeks ago, we got Prince of Wales and converted her to Battleship Summer Hime in the process, so maybe I can squeeze you in."**_ Indochina said as she played with a strand of her long black hair, her golden, glowing eyes locked onto Grey Ghost.

" _ **And for the second part of that little rant, I'm more than aware that Rosie is back, they tried to hide my little sister from us and made a valiant effort but the ELINT capabilities of my forces simply cannot be matched since I'm apparently the only Abyssal who goddamn bothered with such things apparently, how do you think command knew about her in the first place?"**_ Indochina purred as she stroked the chin of a far more voluptuous than usual Re-class, the shark-like Abyssal grinning stupidly and drooling as she stared at the Hime's massive bustline.

Grey Ghost sighed in response to the actions of the BBV, which was normally as rabid as your average Jingoist commenter on YouTube. _"How many of them have you fucked?"_

" _ **It would be easier to ask which ones I haven't. I have eight excessively pregnant Seaport Himes and six equally pregnant Seaport Onis under my direct control churning out new rank and file units almost daily from their 'slipways', don't ask how long that took to get them all like that, but yeah, you get the point, I've been around"**_ Indochina stated matter-of-factly.

" _You're incorrigible, there should be better ways to bolster our forces beyond the rate at which ships return than fucking…"_

" _ **Weren't you the one screaming for me to shove it in your ass when you last visited? Besides, as seaports they're also shipyards, and turning humans into Abyssals only works for the land forces, so there's only a handful of actual options, and I like the ones that are funner for me."**_

" _THAT'S NOT RELEVANT RIGHT NOW AND JUST ANSWER MY QUESTION NEXT TIME INSTEAD OF ALSO BRINGING UP MY SEX LIFE!"_ The Red-faced Ghost roared as the other present Abyssals sans Indochina giggled uncontrollably, the latter just smirking.

 ** _"Temper temper, dear._ Anyways I'll host your forces here for a while, if you need anything just ask one of the guards for it. Unless its sex, then you could ask just about anyone with reproductive organs who isn't busy."**

" _Fuck you."_

" _ **Oh, so you want to be the dominant one this time~"**_ Indochina chuckled playfully, causing Grey Ghost to start twitching.

" _STRAW! MEET CAMEL'S BACK! GET OVER HERE!"_ Grey Ghost screamed as she leapt violently at a disturbingly well prepared Indochina, a decision she would both enjoy and regret later.

* * *

Halsey looked up in concern, causing a Yeoman to look over at him as they sat in an office in the Washington Naval Yard.

"Is something wrong sir… You look like you just sensed a disturbance in the force."

"Sensed a what in the what?"

"That's right, you died before Star Wars became a thing…" Eliciting a confused response from Halsey.

"Anyways… I think it was nothing…"

"If you say so sir…" The Yeoman returned to his work.

Halsey sighed, wondering how or even if he could bring Enterprise back over… She did have some grievances but doing something as drastic as turning against her own country couldn't have come overnight… This had to have been over the course of decades of stewing in wherever ships went when they sank or were scrapped...

If only he could find out the exact cause of it, Yorktown, Wasp, and Hornet were back so it can't just be that... They'd already exacted a heavy toll from Japan in blood in the war… But then Japan got what amounted to a clean slate… In hindsight it was obvious, nobody in the US Navy had a reason to hate Japan more than Enterprise, aside from the ships who survived Pearl Harbor of course… And giving them a free pass was essentially treason to her.

This was going to be more difficult than he thought…

* * *

The howl of missiles had finally stopped, although the gunfire kept up. The thrum of rotor blades and the howl of jet engines starting to drown out even that as helicopters, VTOLs, and tiltrotors roared into the sky. Patton on the other hand was aboard one of the SSCs rumbling ashore alongside the various other landing craft, a few brave LST shipgirls having already launched their tanks ashore, the once tiny vehicles assuming their true size in order to engage in proper combat.

Several _Torch_ -class Superheavy LCACs rumbled up, their 30mm chainguns and 76mm cannons spraying fire onto the beach.

Patton smirked as he hopped onboard the turret of an M61, as the SSC picked up speed, passing a group of waiting LCUs laden with trucks and AFVs.

Already an old UH-1 and been riddled with AA fire from inland and shot down, the marines already on the beach joining the survivors and using the wreck for cover.

An M11 Testarossa kneeling on the beach behind the assault shield of another AS fired its 40mm auto-rifle into the treeline, a flash of an explosion indicating it had hit something with vulnerable munitions.

The SSC ground to a halt as the chaingun mounted on the boat fired away and the ramp lowered, Patton hooting out with glee as the MBT lurched forwards and hit the surf, rumbling through the shallow, warm water to shore, firing HEMP-T rounds set to airburst from its twinned 130mm main guns through the thin, protective silicate tampions that had been affixed to them once sufficiently clear of spray.

Patton jumped off the back of the tank once it ground to a halt in front of the first seawall, spraying 30mm cannonfire into the distance as low caliber AT guns plinked off the front armor of the behemoth war machine.

"The hell? Who the hell are you?" A Marine lance corporal looked up from where she and her fireteam had been taking cover from enemy fire.

Patton grinned as he ducked down next to her, adjusting his unfamiliar modern helmet, how he'd missed being shot at to a degree.

"General George S. Patton, and I'm gonna help you leathernecks push these sons of bitches back into the sea from whence they came."

The marines grinned wider than they ever had before as their Sergeant offered Patton his hand to shake, which the General accepted. "Master Sergeant Al Apone, pleasure to meet a legend like you General, let's go kick us some demon ass!"

"My pleasure Sergeant, one of you jarheads give me a damn pistol, this newfangled crap might not be a revolver or a forty-five but goddamn it's better than being unarmed." A Marine handed Patton an M24 Combat Pistol after checking it to see if a round was chambered, Patton checking the chambered round as an XF-38 Skystriker VTOL jet from the _Flagg_ roared overhead, strafing an Abyssal defense line inland with its rotary cannon.

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for, I say we move up and take the next damn position so we don't clutter the beach." Patton growled.

"But that's not part of this phase of the plan" Someone spoke up.

"I've always said, a good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." Patton responded.

"Sounds good to me sir!" The lance corporal smirked as she started firing her assault rifle at the Abyssal positions further inland, being met by sporadic fire.

"GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR PEOPLE, WE FOLLOW THE GENERAL'S ORDERS, BESIDES ARE WE, THE UNITED FUCKING STATES MARINES, GONNA ALLOW A BUNCH OF FAIRIES WHO USED TO BE ARMY BOYS BEAT THE CORPS TO GUANTANAMO?!" Apone roared.

"NO SERGEANT!" The squad of marines and anyone else nearby that had overheard shouted in unison, Patton smirking as they did so.

"DAMN RIGHT WE AREN'T, NOW GET A MOVE ON!" Apone yelled as he and Patton led them over the threshold, the M61 rumbling up and over with them, spraying machine gun fire to suppress the enemy MG positions, most of the Marines shouting OORAH as they did so.


	9. Stoking the embers

AN: Yeah, last chapter was more of an idea that ran through my head for some of the Abyssal portion. I'll probably end up rewriting a section of it at some point, alongside a few of the initial chapters.

Anyways… On with the show.

Oh yeah before I forget, I'm dropping the overly technical crap, saving that for lore chapters since it just clogs up paragraphs and knocks out the flow of the story.

Will probably revise earlier chapters to improve the flow of the story.

How the fuck Tom Clancy managed to integrate that crap in any readable manner is beyond me.

* * *

 _North Africa, February 1943._

The wreckage of British AFVs and AAFVs was strewn about the desert, lines of vehicles and men retreating once again to the Egyptian border, not in the face of Rommel's tactical acumen, but this time in the face of Project _Seuche_ , and its terrifyingly massive result, the P.1000 _Goliath_ , of which two were rampaging on the road to Alexandria, their powerful arrays of weapons, thick armor and substantial support elements would make confrontation by anything less than multiple seige artillery divisions utterly worthless.

Only the guns of battleships like USS _Oregon_ and USS _Massachusetts_ were felt by the RN to capable of delivering a guaranteed knockout blow to the immense war machines, but both had returned to the US for repair and refit, with the old dreadnoughts _Ontario_ and _Quebec_ taking their place on the line, neither of the old Canadian built _Queen Elizabeth_ -class Battleships had the speed to reach the Alexandria fast enough to head off the attack force due to their late arrival from their refits in Norfolk, Virginia.

The RAF likewise had other priorities and their fighter bomber pilots had dim views of an air attack on the immense machines partially due to flagging morale resulting from the deployment of new German SPAA guns and Italian fighter aircraft.

The USN disagreed, deploying _Rosie_ , _Ranger_ , _Hazen_ and their carrier wings to disable or destroy the immense war machines, escorted by a sizable force of destroyers and cruisers.

This situation needed to be addressed, hence why a dozen Hellcats, backed by half a dozen Corsairs, and another half Dozen FM-2 Wildcats from the CVE _Hazen_ , were escorting TBM Avengers, TBY Sea Wolves, SBD Dauntlesses and SB2C Helldivers as they rumbled over the North African desert, the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica were conspicuously absent, either already committed or just not in the area, even if they had been, the considerable number of US fighters was enough to deter the average German or Italian fighter jock from engaging without significant backup.

The crews of the aircraft swept their gazes over the desert below, looking for the dust clouds made by vehicles rushing through the desert.

The lead Helldiver pilot looked around to his right and spotted two massive but narrow clouds surrounded by many, _many_ , smaller but wider clouds.

"Targets in sight, alright boys, keep your eyes peeled for enemy fighters." The pilot chattered into his handset as his radio operator kept an eye on both the settings and the skies around them.

The formations adjusted as they prepared to engage their attack runs, the Avengers already going into a shallow dive.

The faint streaks of tracer fire coming up and flashing through the air in the distance, indicating a dogfight between Axis and British aircraft.

"Hey boys, what say we show those RAF boys how American pilots do it?" One of the fighter jocks joked, earning himself a chorus of chuckles in response before his flight lead told them to cut it.

The Corsairs and Hellcats dove down into the dogfight once in optimal position, knocking a 109 out of the sky and shredding a hapless CR.42 Falco, the Germans and Italians panicked and scattered, not anticipating such a powerful US Fighter force to suddenly dive into their midst, an unlucky C.202 sheering off the wing of a Bf-110 that had crossed in front of it before both tumbled out of the sky, their crews barely managing to bail out in time to pull their chutes, one of the wrecks narrowly missing a damaged spitfire that was limping away from the battle at low altitude.

Tracer fire raced up from MGs and automatic flak guns on the ground as the remaining Axis planes engaged, now heavily outnumbered and at a severe energy disadvantage, but by that time the dive and level bombers had started dropping their payloads, and the _Goliaths_ were massive, lumbering, targets, two 2,000lb AP bombs found their mark and wrecked the turret interior of one of the massive superheavy tanks while a third blew the tracks off leaving the massive machine immobile and crippled, a couple dozen Germans poured out of the vehicle, not wanting to be hit by additional bombs while inside the giant target, meanwhile another buried itself into an unfortunate tiger, blowing the heavy tank apart like a giant grenade.

The second _Goliath_ continued shooting into the sky with its quad 20mm and two 88mm flak guns, a few MG42s firing on cyclic joining them, but it was not to be, for three 2,000lb AP bombs buried themselves into the main hull of the vehicle as the bombers that dropped them pulled out, the furious explosion of the land cruiser bowling over infantrymen, lighter vehicles and several hapless Pzf mechs, some of which had been firing their handheld weapons into the sky in a vain attempt to nail a bomber.

One Pzf IV Siegmunde took a 500lb bomb to the rear torso while trying to right itself after it had stumbled, promptly falling back into the sand and staying there this time, smoke billowing from the gaping tear in the machine, the machine's stahlhelm covered cranium half buried in dirt and sand, blocking the now worthless view of the perscope 'eye'.

As the bombers flew away, leaving havoc in their wake, the pilots were upbeat but vigilant.

The Germans were going to want blood for this debacle.

* * *

 _Present Day_.

Rosie sweated nervously as Musashi and Oregon stared each other down on the landing pad, neither saying a word to the other, Musashi's initial elation had been rapidly tempered with her remembering that Yamato was dead and gone.

And Oregon was less than happy herself to see a reminder of her previous life, one that was causing her psyche to attack itself once more.

"Now… Would the two of you please just…"

"Rosie… Stay out of this…" Oregon warned, causing the carrier to shrink back, for all her power, Rosie was no match for even the oldest of _Dreadnought_ -type battleships without her planes.

And she had no intention of dying pointlessly in what would amount to a failed bid to step between the two in a serious fight, something which would only serve to both dismay Oregon and throw her into a frenzy.

Eventually Oregon snorted derisively and dragged Rosie off as she walked to the command building, leaving a visibly deflated Musashi to stir in her thoughts.

" _Nee-sama..."_ Musashi muttered softly.

"Orrie…" Rosie murmured.

"I don't want to deal with her right now Rosie, I'm upset enough with a number of things. One of which involves you…"

Rosie paled. "What… Would that be…"

Oregon's eyes glinted dangerously. "The fact I wasn't your first~"

Rosie gulped as Oregon turned and pressed her against a wall.

"Maybe you should check in first…"

"Later… I need to claim what is mine first~" The battleship purred while leaning in closer to Rosie.

"Ahem." Kaga fake coughed as she stared at the two, causing Rosie to flush red and Oregon to return to her previous cold persona.

"If you two wouldn't mind taking the minute to have Oregon check in and get a room assignment before fucking each other's brains out then come with me."

"Fine." Oregon stated.

"R… Right…" Rosie stuttered.

* * *

Patton looked through a pair of binoculars as the invasion force moved on to its latest objective. Antilla, to say that the prior Abyssal defenses had been a disappointment were an understatement, with maybe a few half-assed defense lines in they'd encountered in half a week.

But Antilla was heavily defended, as it was one of the few population centers in the region capable of supporting cargo ships.

Therefore, it had a heavily equipped defense garrison, and nobody knew if any civilians were still inside the city.

In addition, the invasion force needed to take that town fast, before the enemy destroyed key infrastructure to spite them their victory.

A few surviving units from the Cuban Army had ended up alongside them, despite decades of prior animosity the Cuban government based in welcomed the Americans on the condition that everything returns to the pre-Abyssal status quo afterwards.

The US Government unsurprisingly agreed.

Personally, Patton couldn't have given a damn what the Cubans thought of them, but he understood the value of good PR, and by having the Cuban government accept the US presence, while securing their own power base by preventing the opposition from making deals with the American Government, it also simultaneously undermined decades of Anti-American propaganda if the US came in as a liberating force to aid the outgunned Cuban military.

A pair of upgraded F-16 TSFs rumbled in to interrupt Patton's train of thought, their jump units scorching the ground as they landed, spraying 36mm rounds from the assault cannons in their hands and on their mount pylons, one of the Tactical Surface Fighters took a 3" AT round to the cockpit and stumbled back, the thankfully unmanned unit righting itself soon after

The response was for it to fire the two 120mm smoothbore launchers mounted on the handheld assault cannons, Patton smirking as the canister shots ripped apart the Abyssal strongpoint.

Even centuries after the invention of the cannon, grapeshot type munitions were still absurdly useful.

A force of Tanks, Walkers, Labor Units, and Arms Slaves advanced while laying down heavy covering fire for the infantry and mechanized units as Patton watched through his binoculars, drones and networking was fun and all, but sometimes one had to get a feel for the basics.

As the three companies continued their advance the Abyssal fire suddenly picked up in intensity, a glancing hit from a high caliber AT gun knocking a late model Gernsback flat on its metal ass while infantry took cover and began to return fire.

Patton sighed, nothing could ever be simple could it.

"Alright then, time for this 'shock and awe' crap I keep hearing about." George muttered to himself.

At that moment six M-209 Juggernaut heavy artillery walkers opened fire, each machine bearing three 155mm howitzers capable of linked or independent fire.

Alongside the MLRS, SPG, and towed artillery units, these machines were raining utter hell down on the Abyssal troops, the sound of shrieking shells and missiles drowning out the gunfire before much of the Abyssal line bursts into balls of flame, flinging debris into the air.

This was followed up by a pair of F-181 Black Wasps and four F-35s dropping Small Diameter Bombs into the remaining gun positions, the tiny yet powerful munitions working their magic.

Seconds before the bombardment finished the modern Marines and 'Fairy' GIs advanced, Shermans, Jeeps, M8 Greyhounds and Big Joes moving up alongside Schwarzkopfs, ACVs, L-ATVs and Tesstarossas.

Patton grimaced as the surviving Abyssals resumed firing, why were these piecemeal deployments and poorly assigned defenses so goddamn familiar…

Wait… Replace this situation with Kasserine pass… Patton's grimace hardened in realization as to who was most likely in command of the piss poor Abyssal defenses.

"Fredendall… Of course, a man as thoroughly humiliated and disgraced as you could be easily manipulated by whatever the hell the Abyss is… Doesn't matter that you were promoted because Ike decided not to make a show, which he goddamn should of to put anyone failing to live up to the expectations of command in their place, you had your fucking chance and you blew it, and some part of you could never let that go could it… Hell, I might have been the same way if destiny hadn't saved me from Ike canning my ass prior to Normandy…"

Patton clicked his headset as he watched the troops move on to the next enemy defense line, mildly annoyed that the best routes were crammed with Abyssal troops, meaning the favored maneuver tactics had to be set aside in favor of blasting the enemy apart with superior firepower, wasting munitions that could be deployed on dedicated strongpoints rather than piecemeal but nonetheless well entrenched positions. "Get me Captain Faireborne … I have something she needs to relay to command, I think I know who the enemy commander might be..."

* * *

Oregon's casually hostile gaze didn't faze Nakamura in the slightest, for there were far worse things than her annoyance at the interruption.

Such as Aoba's attempt to get a scoop on Yuubetsu's latest project backfiring and leaving the heavy cruiser strung to the base flagpole in her underwear, a dozen pictures were taken before a group of Keimukan who had been alerted by the commotion got her down.

Suffice to say dealing with the aftermath was not pleasant.

"Since Oregon seems rather overprotective of you Rosie, you two will be rooming together."

"Fine by me."

Rosie nodded in agreement.

"Very well then, but keep it down, also Oregon…"

"Yes…" The battleship replied coolly.

"You're to play nice with my girls understand." Nakamura's tone indicated he would broker no arguments, causing the Battleship to flinch slightly.

"Understood… _Sir_." Oregon responded as she led Rosie out of the room, causing Nakamura to sigh as the last lock of the _Midway_ -class carrier's green hair slipped out of view.

"She's truly a broken one isn't she…"

"She's not the only one, Rosie by all accounts should be far more confident in herself…" Kaga observed.

"Wonderful… Ughh..." Nakamura groaned.

"There's something else isn't there…"

"The Ultra-nationalists sent Izumi to 'monitor' our American guests…"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me? That Tokkeitai bitch? Even her own sisters don't like spending too much time around her because of how much rhetoric she spurges from her mouth." Kaga snarled.

"Sisters mean a lot to Kanmusu I've picked up, even more so since aside from submarines, Shipgirls are more social by nature than humans."

"Yeah, the problem with Rosie and Oregon is that they're isolated in a manner like a number of shipgirls that ended up serving without siblings like the dreadnoughts who were purchased by the British in the leadup to World War I or the numerous one-off designs that were never continued due to either cost or obsolescence. Oregon is estranged from her siblings and Rosie has none on this plane of existence… Aside from any possible Abyssals… And neither feel particularly welcome here…" Kaga mused.

"Wonderful… So the two of them are latching onto eachother to maintain their sanity… And here I thought Rosie's self-confidence was improving…"

"It is, but she's still going to be rather insular until we can crack that shell of hers open…"

"Then try and nudge her out carefully, the last thing I want is her to double back and destroy our efforts to help mend bridges between our girls and her…"

Kaga nodded in response. "Should I recommend regular psychological evaluations?"

"Only if we need to…"

"As you wish Hiroto…" Kaga sighed.

Rosie looked nervously at Oregon as they set up in their shared room and changed into their sleepwear, or at least what they could sleep in in this heat, the battleship's expression set in stone even in privacy like this, her mood having been upset by the brief visit to the Admiral's Office.

"Orrie…?"

"Hmm…?" Oregon turned to see Rosie looking rather… Small… It pained her to see the normally confident carrier, who in human form was taller than herself by about a foot, like this.

"Yes Rosie…?

"I know you wanted to claim me earlier… But… Do you think we could just cuddle for now…?"

Oregon smiled softly at her, her façade breaking down in the face of Rosie's request.

"Of course we can Rosie." Oregon's response elicting a smile from the carrier.

Thus, the two of them curled up in bed together, Oregon genuinely smiling for the first time in what felt like years.

"I told you a long time ago that I'd protect you… Now I can fulfill that promise again…" The battleship murmured as she gently stroked the sleeping carrier's hair.

Off to the side Rosie's captain smiled as he fiddled with a fairy scaled model of an F2A-1 while sitting on the nightstand, glad his ship was feeling better before handing the model to one of Oregon's awed aviators and some Japanese pilot fairies who'd snuck away from their carriers, walking away while whistling as the others could only stare at the signature on the model.

 _Jimmy Thach_.

The awed fairies blinked before chattering amongst themselves, this explained why neither Yorktown, Saratoga, or Lexington could find Thach among their pilots at the time, because he himself belonged to the command staff of a shipgirl not yet summoned.

And if Rosie was commanded by one of the USN's most legendary air tacticians, the man who molded USN air power during WWII and taught the equally legendary O'Hare among many other pilots, then maybe she could help turn the tide after all.

* * *

AN: 'Jimmy' Thach commanded _Rosie_ from 1953-1954, he was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1955 whereupon his last seaborne command I can find was 'Task Group Alpha' in 1958-1959 centered around _Valley Forge_ which had been designated for development of ASW tactics, in the following year he was promoted to vice admiral and became Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air in the Pentagon, being behind the development of the A-7 Corsair II and many other Naval Aircraft and weapons systems. After a stint in command of US Naval Forces, Europe, Thach retired at the rank of Admiral in 1967 and died in 1981 four days before his birthday, he was 75 years old.

And yes, I agree with the general consensus that Fredendall was an idiot.

The very concept of high ground being advantageous has been understood for a couple thousand years, yet Fredendall for whatever reason thought using his men as a ROADBLOCK instead of putting them on the sides of the Kasserine pass would stop the Afrika Corps, which it didn't in the slightest.

This was among the many other things he did horribly fucking wrong.


	10. Countdown

AN: Sleep cycle is trash, cannot into sleep… Send help.

Anyways… Rather short chapter this time because reasons. I hope I got the French as correct as possible…

* * *

Rosie yawned as she snuggled Oregon, nuzzling her face into the battleship's sizeable chest.

"Soft…" She murmured

"If my breasts weren't soft I'd be concerned." Oregon commented, causing Rosie to stir.

"Morning…"

"You seemed to enjoy the cuddling didn't you" Oregon said as she smirked.

"Can we lie here a little bit longer…?"

"Sure~."

* * *

Indochina grumbled as she and Grey Ghost sat there in her throne room watching yet another of Midway Hime's fleetwide broadcasts, the Installation-type spewing fire and brimstone about the 'holy war against the Humans and Human-lovers' while welcoming newly summoned Abyssals into their ranks. The whole show was honestly disgusting as was the obsession with using raw flesh instead of steel to form the base of new Abyssals, the power of the Abyss was near limitless and these idiots were running around as Indochina described it, LARPing as a cult from some overhyped tabletop game, although Indochina's actual description had been _far_ less flattering.

" _ **Does she ever get tired of listening to herself speak? I can understand the need to motivate the troops but this crap is making them idiotic, if we start screaming about how we cannot lose we will start putting the fault on those who died being weak instead of stupid."**_ Indochina muttered.

" _Agreed, the High Command has given her and the rest of us a sizeable leash to do as we see fit within the context of their orders, whether religious fervor, hard logic, or something in between wins out in the end is debatable. I wouldn't be surprised if some of us take that rope and hang ourselves with it in the process."_

" _ **Agreed, I haven't seen eye to eye with that bitch for a while, she keeps giving me subtle threats even though she damn well knows she makes one wrong move and I coat her fucking ass in napalm and agent orange before she can blink."**_

" _You make it sound like the others want to kill you…"_

" _ **We're not a monolithic force despite what she, and the humans, will tell you. Every command grade Abyssal, and even most of the rank and file have agendas that can and will come into conflict with eachother, the Abyss didn't remake us superior to humans, they remade us on the same template, which means we have all the same flaws as them. And because I don't agree with the dogma some of them run with it means that I'm a threat to their powerbase."**_

" _The fact you're a massive asshole doesn't help… Anyways regarding what I asked you earlier before we got interrupted, about the limited number of Abyssal ship classes despite the vast number of nations we draw our strength from, why is that?"_

" _ **It's simple, the vast majority of our ships are old war boats from ages past when the primary tactic was ramming, but the Abyss being the calculating entity that it is, upgraded most of them to better combat more modern opponents, no amount of mystical bullcrap is going to make a wooden longboat or trireme survive even the tiniest of destroyer main battery guns after all, because they have no hard counter for them."**_

" _ **Likewise, although the old ironclads and pre-dreads are protected against low caliber guns and MGs… Against bombers, submarines and more modern guns of heavy cruiser caliber and higher they have little to no defense."**_

" _So instead of making a shitton of different Abyssals that will probably get chewed up we have a few catch all classes then…"_

" _ **Exactly, it works great logistics-wise too, because riggings require maintenance, and for example as the Germans figured out, having literally a dozen or so different armored vehicles plus submodels in production and use at the same time is kind of a stupid idea due to the strain it puts on logistics."**_

" _Well aren't you a master of stating the obvious?"_

" _ **You do realize how few of the rank and file actually understand the meaning of good logistics right?"**_

Grey Ghost waved dismissively at her. _"Yeah, yeah… How ab-"_ She was cut off by an Abyssal infantryman of French origin rushing in and kneeling, distracting the entire court.

" _Vos Altesses! La Marine Chinoise is launching an offensive against our forces!"_

Indochina snarled in response. _**"Idiots, they're trying to satisfy their inadequacy compared to the Japanese shipgirl force by trying to use experimental weaponry to see if it can kill us, and as I am the biggest threat in the region they chose me. I'm going to enjoy putting them back in their place~. RALLY OUR FORCES!"**_

" _À la fois ma princesse!"_ The infantryman stood, saluted and rushed out.

" _Mind if I tag along?"_

" _ **The more the merrier Ghost, besides if we can get a few modern ships out of this the other Royals will shit bricks."**_ Indochina grinned predatorily as she slammed a fist into her left palm.

" _What is it with you and cursing all the time."_

" _ **Because it's part of my charm and it pisses off my rivals. ALRIGHT BITCHES LET'S KICK SOME HUMAN ASS!"**_ Indochina declared as she viewed over the rank and file along with the lesser Himes and Onis assembled in her court, greeted in turn by war cries and thunderous cheering as her grin widened.

The Chinese wouldn't be very confident after this affair if they had anything to say about it.

* * *

Rosie and Oregon walked into Naruto's café to see what looked like half the shipgirls on base clustered around a large TV.

"What's going on here…" Rosie asked Suzuya as she peeked over her and Ooi.

"It's the fucking Chinese, they're launching a naval assault on the Abyssals in Southeast Asia." The Aviation Cruiser responded without looking at Rosie.

"What, but only shipgirls can break through the Abyssal regeneration factor!"

"Someone tell that to the Chinks." A random destroyer muttered, earning a slap on the head from Ooi.

"HEY, WHAT WAS THAT FOR!"

"Do you like it when people call you Jap? Didn't think so, now shut up."

"They're still fucking commies…" The disciplined girl mumbled while rubbing her head.

"Shush, they're talking again." Someone else chimed in.

" _We have confirmed that the_ _Chinese state news agency Xinhua has issued a declaration that the 'heroic' People's Liberation Army Navy is engaging in a 'deceive combat engagement' with the imperialistic 'Deep Sea Forces' in Southeast Asia and will undoubtedly rout their opponents. Naval Officers from the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Russia are reported to have been contacting the Chinese, attempting to get them to call off the attack, which they call 'suicidal and stupid' reiterating the claim that while human built weaponry can hurt Abyssal 'warships', it cannot kill them, with this knowledge how is it possible for the PLAN, with only a handful of shipgirls of their own to protect their immense coastline, to be capable of defeating the Abyssal fleet based in the former city of Roanapur?"_ The anchor stated.

"The fucking idiots, their sailors will be lucky to escape with their lives." Oregon growled.

The Japanese girls tensed visibly once Oregon spoke, causing Rosie to gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Orrie… Maybe you should calm down a bit…"

"I…" She scanned the distrustful looks on most of the Japanese shipgirls. "I should be leaving anyways…" She turned and walked out, gently shoving Rosie aside as she left, causing Musashi to narrow her eyes at the assembled shipgirls, sending chills running down the spines of those who were foolish enough to glance in her direction, Yamato might be 'dead', but Oregon was still her sister nonetheless.

Rosie stood there indecisively before following Oregon.

* * *

"Orrie…"

"Rosie I'm not in the mood…"

Rosie tentatively put a hand on the Battleship's shoulder as the latter sat on a bench near the base's rec facilities.

"I SAID I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!" She snapped as she whirled around, eyes glowing red, causing Rosie to stumble and fall backwards, the carrier's face fixed in a mixture of shock and fear.

The glow faded from Oregon's eyes as she stared in mute horror before getting up and running off.

"ORRIE! WAIT! Shit…" Rosie groaned, clutching her head in her hands.

She stayed there until Kaga walked up ten minutes later. "Well… I don't know but this seems like a bad time to tell you that you're coming to a fancy dinner conference in Sendai…"

"Why…"

"It's for PR reasons, that and it's also a reunion for your JMSDF crews…"

"From my days as Shin'you… I can guess Orrie won't be coming…"

"No, her presence would start a ticking time bomb with any of the ultranationalists that will be present."

Rosie nodded resignedly. "Do I wear a dress uniform or just a dress…"

"Dress uniform would be preferable, we'll have enough trouble keeping the more lecherous individuals off the capital ships and cruisers… Even with the Gynoid waitresses distracting them."

"Right… So, who stays…?"

That's up to the Admiral, we're understaffed heavily here, which is why EVA handles a lot of the day to day infowork, in lieu of staff officers."

"Got it… When is this party again…?"

"Tomorrow."

Rosie groaned.

* * *

Indochina stared in the direction of the Chinese mainland as she floated on the waves alone, the burning wrecks of two corvettes slowly sinking less than half a mile off each of her beams, she'd allowed the hapless ships to get off a report of her location before she sunk them, and now the bulk of the PLAN was steaming right into her grasp.

Looking up to see dozens of missiles scream in towards her, the Armored Carrier shook her head as the multi-billion Yuan barrage impacted.

* * *

On the Bridge of the aircraft carrier _Yunnan_ , Admiral Luan Wei smirked as the cruise and ballistic anti-ship missiles began slamming into their target, followed by a barrage of fire from linear cannons. The _Jieyang_ and _Qingyuan_ had been avenged.

"Continue advance, combat speed." He ordered.

"Yessir, continuing advance at combat speed."

A few hours later, as the Chinese force reached the spot where the corvettes sank, one of the Type 055 Destroyers suddenly lurched as if struck and blew apart in a brilliant fireball, causing most of the _Yunnan_ 's bridge crew to turn and stare in horror before their attention was redirected by the cry of one of the lookouts.

Before them stood an Abyssal Armada, the likes of which their few escorting shipgirls could not counter.

In the center of the lead formation Indochina War Hime smirked as she lowered her quad 16" A turret for reloading, her flight deck abuzz with activity as her planes readied for takeoff.

Sweat poured down Admiral Luan Wei's terrified face. ' _IMPOSSIBLE! NOTHING AT SEA COULD HAVE SURVIVED THAT!_ '.

" _ **Alright boys… It's our turn.~"**_ Indochina's voice boomed as she aimed all three of her quad 16" gun turrets directly at the _Yunnan_ while her fleet cackled ominously, their own guns and torpedo tubes directing onto their targets as planes boiled into the air.

" _ **Sink~."**_

Then she fired, and the battle was joined.


	11. Out of the frying pan

AN: And in this chapter the Chinese get BTFO'd and shit goes horribly fucking wrong elsewhere.

Originally the battle was supposed to be more detailed and from the POV of a PLAN shipgirl but then I figured the way I wrote it might rub people the wrong way.

Update: Rewritten some portions, particularly the interaction between Rosie and Iowa.

* * *

The faint noises of battle echoed for a couple hours over the South China sea, before finally falling silent, the PLAN's remaining sea and air forces retreating in all directions away from the Abyssal forces led by Indochina War Hime.

* * *

" _They're running. Should we pursue?"_ Grey Ghost asked Indochina, who simply waved a hand in a dismissive gesture.

" _ **No, with their conventional Naval, Air and Missile forces rendered impotent or destroyed their offshore power projection methods short of nuclear bombardment just evaporated. Let them run if they so choose, it makes no difference to us, especially if they're dumb enough to return."**_

" _You seem mighty gracious."_

 _ **"Make no mistake, under other circumstances I would have slaughtered them to the last without mercy."**_

 _"Still, why let any get away?"_

" _ **The spirit and pride of the Chinese navy has been broken, meanwhile we on the other hand have only suffered minor losses from the salvos fired by their retreating shipgirls, they are easily replaced and far inferior to those we have inflicted on them, the Chinese are now left with few options but to concede defeat and purge their command staff."**_

" _Alright then… Should we get back to base and relax or stop to kill all the survivors?"_ Grey Ghost inquired, noting the dozens of Chinese sailors, airmen and officers bobbing among the debris as the gunfire finally fell silent less than an hour into the engagement.

" _ **Leave them and activate the beacons in the wreckage if you can, might as well let the Indonesians, Malaysians and Vietnamese know they're out here."**_

" _Yeah, yeah, you heard her people, activate the beacons and let's head back."_

With that some of the distress beacons were activated by Abyssal Heavy cruisers and the incredulous Chinese survivors were left to the hands of fate as their attackers sailed off into the darkening horizon.

* * *

Rosie tugged idly at her dress uniform skirt while standing in the buffet line, the ill-fitting clothes made her wish she had worn a spare uniform to the occasion.

She'd spent a significant amount of time meeting her old JMSDF crew who were able or willing to attend the event and now was spending a significant amount of time shooting the breeze with Iowa, who had been assigned to 7th fleet alongside two of the three Lexington sisters, Saratoga and Constellation to be precise, and a smattering of other American shipgirls.

"So you see that old guy over there?" Iowa chirped.

"Which 'old guy over there' there's a lot of men in their fifties and sixties here Iowa." The carrier muttered while facepalming.

"The one who kinda looks like a chimp." Iowa clarified.

"You have no tact at all do you..." Rosie deadpanned.

"Nope! Anyways, I hear that guy is _the_ Daisuke Aramaki."

Rosie cocked an eyebrow. "Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't he basically write the book on current cyber-warfare doctrine?"

"Yep, I've heard he has some new special unit in the works to serve as Japan's national counter cyber-terrorism unit."

"Yeah, enough about that…" Rosie shook her head and sighed. "Anyways, how have you been."

"Doing fine, I've heard you know who is back, you tried to bed her yet?" The fast battleship grinned.

Rosie clenched her cup a little tighter. "We're taking it slow…"

"You sure? I helped Sara and some Japanese CVL hit it off, maybe I can-" Iowa continued, ignoring Rosie's worsening temper.

"We're, taking, it, slow." The carrier stated with a measure of finality, her glass starting to crack in her hand visibly now.

"Fine…. Anyways, you hear about the situation on Cuba?" Iowa placated, attempting to change the subject.

"Not really."

"It's bogging down for some reason, they're shipping in units trained in COIN tactics but it's going to take some time to adjust for the fact the Abyssals have heavy artillery and tanks."

"I guess…" Rosie muttered boredly.

"Geez, you're really out of it aren't you…" Iowa mused as she took another drink of her champagne.

"I've had to deal with no less than a dozen people aggravating me for some reason or another related to me serving Japan." Rosie grumbled.

"Yeah, I hear ya… Christ you know this goes on for three days right?"

Rosie could only groan loudly in response.

Iowa smirked and wrapped an arm around Rosie, leaning in and letting the now flustered carrier feel her breath on her ear. "Did you think Orrie was the only one saving themselves for you Rosie dear~?" Iowa breathed huskily.

Rosie smelt alcohol on Iowa's breath, drunken and horny were not an ideal combination for a shipgirl to be in a public environment, she understood _why_ Iowa had the hots for her, there were scattered rumors that imprints had been left by FDR's trip aboard her and her brief meeting with Rosie in Casablanca in 1943 as she herself transited back to the States for brief overhaul before she and _Oregon_ would join the Pacific Fleet once the latter's then-latest refit was completed.

But Rosie could have cared less about _that_ , it was because Iowa was drunkingly trying to cop a feel on her chest while her own dress was simultaneously sliding off that needed to be addressed, the Carrier hauling Iowa off to the side and adjusting her shoulder straps to prevent her breasts from flopping out nearly as easily.

"You battleships are a pain you know that right?" Rosie mumbled not entirely seriously.

Iowa simply giggled stupidly.

* * *

A quartet of catering trucks rumbled up to the hotel-convention center where the JMSDF hosted venue was taking place, being waved through the police security checkpoint after their credentials were checked out and backing up to the loading docks.

A rather annoyed looking bus-boy walked up to the rightmost truck, grumbling to himself.

"Oi! You bastards are three hours late! This is the last-" A faint cough later and his brains were splattered out the back of his head by a suppressed pistol as four dozen men and women rushed out of the backs of the trucks and into the building, killing or incapacitating anyone unlucky enough to be between them and the main event room.

* * *

Rosie tensed, something was horribly wrong, all the other Kanmusu were similarly on edge, even Iowa was now suddenly more alert.

"What the hell is going on…"

As if on que two dozen armored and masked individuals burst into the room, armed with short barreled assault rifles, PDWs, shotguns, and even LMGs and semi-automatic sniper rifles.

One, presumably the spokesman or leader, stepped forwards and fired a burst from his SMG into the ceiling.

"WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE ABYSS, ALL OF YOU ARE NOW OUR PRISONERS IN OUR FIGHT TO FORCE THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD TO SURRENDER TO THE MESSENGERS OF GOD!" He announced, likely having recited this same speech many times in practice runs.

"Oh for fucks sake a cult… Really?" Rosie muttered as she and Iowa put their hands up with everyone else in the convention hall, none of the American or Japanese shipgirls present willing to risk the possibility that some of the cultists had suicide vests or other explosive weapons nor the possibility that they wouldn't turn their guns on the hostages out of desperation or as a final act of spite.

Pringle and Sendai cursed under their breath nearby.

In the confusion nobody had noticed that Lieutenant-Colonel Aramaki had slipped away long prior.

* * *

Oregon clenched her knuckles so hard she was drawing blood from her palms as she watched the footage of the police standoff with the Children of the Abyss, the news broadcast had interrupted a feed of reports of several high ranking Chinese Naval Officers seeking Asylum in Korea and Taiwan, likely in advance of a purge of the upper ranks of the PLAN following the presumed South China Sea debacle.

More than a few Japanese shipgirls were reveling in the event, much to Oregon's distate, as much as she hated the Chinese, there was no reason for them to feel happy about the deaths of thousands like one of the bloodthirsty fools who marched Japan to ruin over a century prior.

She shook her head, focusing on their situation.

Ooi and Kaga were trapped with Rosie and Admiral Nakamura at the event, leaving Mutsu, Zuikaku and Musashi effectively in charge of the base as programming restrictions meant neither EVA nor the Operator Gynoids could act without the authorization of a ranking officer, and none of the shipgirls would listen to herself outside of combat anyways.

For the first time in what felt like decades, Oregon felt helpless, all of her strength, her firepower, worthless in a situation that required a delicate touch, even a submarine for all their stealth would be unable to beat around four dozen heavily armed terrorists without their rigging, and even _then_ the odds that they could save all or even most of the hostages was slim.

She knew that she wasn't the only one who was so frustrated, all the shipgirls witnessing this event undoubtedly wanted to do _something_ , **anything** , to end this crap, but there was honestly nothing any of them could do that wouldn't make the situation _worse_.

She had the feeling that these cultists were hinging their plans on that.

"The Prime Minister has reiterated the Japanese Government's stance on this matter, although already there are calls to deploy special forces units from several more aggressive Generals, a violation of the revised constitution which forbids the usage of any self-defense force personnel except Military Police units in law enforcement actions."

Oregon tuned out the political commentary, she knew that Japan's increasing nationalism and militarism along with _very reluctant_ workplace reforms since the early 2020's had averted the nation's declining birthrate but at a serious cost to civil liberties, to the point that some of the security apparatus was reluctantly rolled back after serious concerns of a popularly and possibly internationally supported constitutionalist coup emerged.

"Can't we do anything?" One of the destroyers muttered.

"No, we'll just make the situation worse by storming in there, this is in the hands of the Police now." Musashi's response shut down any further attempts to bring up the subject.

"Can this day get any worse?" The same girl mumbled to herself.

At that moment, the emergency sortie alarm blared.

"You just had to fucking say it Fuyutsuki…" Akebono muttered.

As they scrambled for the docks, Oregon could only think of Rosie, inwardly terrified about what might happen to her.

* * *

[ _"Major, gather your team, it's time we make our debut."_ ]

[ _"Why now, shouldn't Section 4 handle this?"_ ]

[ _"The terrorists are fitted with military grade cybernetics, likely in anticipation of encountering Kanmusu. Moreover they've already locked down the tsunami protection system in the hotel to prevent the police from entering, the Sendai SAT hasn't dealt with a situation this delicate in over a decade, and Section 4 isn't equipped for cyber-warfare on this scale."_ ]

[ _"Roger, we'll be ready in twenty."_ ]

[ _"Good luck major."_ ]

[ _"Keep yourself safe Chief."_ ]

[ _"Save your worries for the hostages, not me."_ ]

Major Motoko Kusunagi slammed a clip into her Seburo M5 pistol and racked the slide back.

"Well, looks like it's time to get to work then." She muttered to herself.


	12. Storm

AN: Damn you motivation! Also this might be a rather short chapter by comparison.

No this story isn't dead, I just had a serious case of writers block regarding the hostage situation.

Update: The stuff regarding Cobra has been re-written to be more vague and intriguing and less up in your face about it. I honestly think it works a hell of a lot better from this standpoint.

* * *

As the standoff outside the Kenbishi Group Hotel continued, nobody paid much notice to the arrival of yet another trio of trucks just outside the police perimeter, a group of 2048 model AV-02 Clash Buster police labor units tracking them with their head mounted cameras.

The grey painted vehicles bore the markings of typical long-haul semi-trucks, but the interior was anything but what it advertised as.

* * *

"This is one hell of a mess Major. Why'd we bring some of the rookies into it anyways?" Batou grumbled as he thumbed at Azuma, Maven, Ladriya, and Yano.

"There's at least forty terrorists in there Batou, we need all the backup we can get." Motoko pointed out.

"This is highly delicate, hence why the Tachikomas are painted in urban camo to mimimize the chances they're spotted even without thermo-optical camouflage." Ishikawa added.

"So, what's the plan? We've already been briefed on the overall gist of the situation on the way here." Saito asked.

"Prepare for datalink everyone."

"Make sure you've got your backhack blockers and ad filters up."

"Very funny Batou." Motoko sighed and shook her head.

A hologram of the building popped up on the center planning table.

Motoko pointed at the main entrances. ["All the main entrances and most of the windows are sealed by the Tsunami protection system, which leaves the emergency roof entrances used for airborne evacuation, the problem with that is firstly, they're linked to the building's evacuation alert system, opening them will set it off immediately if we don't disable it, secondly, they're probably heavily guarded anyways."]

["The Old Ape and Togusa are in there right, maybe they can find us another access route?"] Batou observed.

["They've found an old unmarked access tunnel originally meant for use by heavy construction labor units that leads directly into the storage area of the hotel, looks like it was removed from the digital records by a Yakuza faction to facilitate smuggling, we could use that but we have no idea if the terrorists are aware of it."] Ishikawa noted.

"Maybe it's time we get hands on with this." The Major said as she sat down at a dive station with a smirk. "Ishikawa, get me an opening."

"On it Major." The bearded man dialed a number in the computer's net-phone.

* * *

Inside a conference room, one of the phones rang.

One of the grunts picked up the phone after being nodded at by his immediate superior.

* * *

"We're in, you got him?" Ishikawa asked.

"Like a fly in a spider's web." The Major confirmed.

* * *

The terrorist put down the phone.

"Anything?"

He shook his head involuntarily as Motoko took control of his motor functions via a 'ghosthack'.

"This is going nowhere Takahashi! I say we kill all the hostages and flee while we still can, the blow dealt will be more than enough!" Another man shouted.

"And risk the military blowing open the barriers in the process and storming the building will a full kill order? They are our _only_ leverage in this situation, our _'wise'_ leader has gotten us into a no-win situation."

"How dare you!"

" _The both of you silence, I understand Takahashi's concerns and acknowledge them, however everything is proceeding as planned, our target is not the human personnel, but the light ones we are tying up by holding them hostage."_ The true leader of the raid finally spoke up.

"Light ones, I'm afraid I do not understand…" A third one questioned.

The 'man' smiled, his pale skin seeming almost ghostly. _"It is rather simple, they are those who did not answer the call of the Abyss, the ones you call shipgirls…"_

* * *

["You hearing this Chief?"] Batou asked via wireless connection

["Yes, we need to act quickly then, it's obvious that their actions coincide with a major Abyssal naval attack."]

["Roger, we're moving the Night Ravens and Tachikomas in and we have a chopper on standby incase the Major needs to make a rapid entry"]

["Keep up the good work Batou."] Aramaki said as he disconnected.

Batou sighed as he and the rest of Section 9's field units marched through the tunnels under thermo optic camouflage, the AS-3 Night Ravens sweeping their 40mm machine carbines over the area in sync with the infantry and multiped tankettes.

["Keep an eye out people, just because there's no sign of them doesn't mean they're not there."]

["I think I saw movement!"]

["What was it Pazu?"]

["Looked like an Ixtl"] A burst of gunfire echoed down the hallway. ["Yeah it's an Ixtl alright!"] Pazu confirmed as his unit engaged the first, and then a second TRT-X66.

["Keep your eyes out everyone there's bound to be more of the bastards!"] Batou warned.

["CONTACTS! WE'VE GOT TWO MORE OVER HERE!"] Maven reported.

Batou swore, this just kept getting better didn't it.

Soon, his own group was engaged with more of the damn Ixtls and a number of Type 97 Arms Slaves that had been somehow acquired by the Cultists.

* * *

Oregon fired her main battery for the forth time at the Ta-class that was harassing the carriers, 18" shells burying themselves in the enemy fast battleship or splashing into the water on either side as her gunners found the range, blowing the abyssal apart.

Musashi followed up with her own salvo, aiming at the second Ta-class that was turning her own guns towards the _Yamato_ -class's estranged older sister and knocking out a gun turret.

While IJN fire control was superb, and comparable to their counterparts, Musashi still wished she had better radar direction for it.

The cruisers and destroyers were all engaged in their own smaller torpedo and gun attacks, whilst the squadrons of fighters dueled overhead and intercepted the other side's strike planes.

The LBAS was chipping in with a few squadrons of Ki-44s, N1K1-Js, Ki-61s and J2Ms, the land based fighters ripping into the Abyssal ranks while torpedo, level, and dive bombers ran rampant.

Yet the Abyssals gave out as much as they got, badly wounding Ooi who was forced to withdraw at a mere 10 knots after expending all her torpedoes, likewise Bandai was being towed off by Suzuya as her crew tried to bring her fire control and engines back in order.

"Shoukaku's hit!" Someone shouted, a quick check indicated that Shoukaku had indeed taken a bomb hit that was impairing her air operations, Zuikaku, Ryuukaku, and Taikaku attempting to make up the slack, but they were being heavily outnumbered even before their youngest sister had been damaged.

Oregon ground her teeth, at this rate they'd be overwhelmed, her own AA guns were rapidly running out of ammo in addition to overheating and stress issues.

And it was only a matter of time before somebody found the range on her and knocked something important out, or worse.

" _Where the hell is Yokosuka with our reinforcements!"_ Oregon thought, before turning and staring in horror as a massed wave of strike planes with fighter escort appeared on the Horizon.

 _"We're all going to die..."_ She thought.

* * *

In the void a Bosun's whistle sounded into the whiteness.

" _General Quarters, General Quarters, All hands man your battlestations!"_

Alarms blared through the nether.

" _General Quarters, General Quarters, All hands man your battlestations!"_

Turbines that had long ceased to exist sprang to life, boilers thrumming as decks long since scrapped teemed with activity.

" _I… Am… Needed…?"_

" _General Quarters, General Quarters, All hands man your battlestations!"_

" _I_ AM _needed again!"_

The sound of jet engines rumbling to life drowned out the alarms.

" _WIPE THE TIRES AND LIGHT THE FIRES BOYS! TIME FOR THE CAVALRY!"_

* * *

Oregon closed her eyes, there was no way for them to stop the impending strike wave of nearly a hundred additional planes, their AA and fighters could only occupy so many of them, and even the Iwamoto squadron flying from Zuikaku was being overwhelmed.

As she resigned herself to her fate, her ears picked up a noise she didn't think she'd ever hear.

The faint roar of air to air missiles.

The Abyssal formation took heavy losses and scattered as a squadron of F3H Demons roared over the fleet, the all-weather jet fighters engaging with their guns now that their AAM-5 Oriole missiles had been expended, behind them a formation of Corsairs, Cougars and Skyraiders approached at combat speed, laden with bombs, torpedoes and rockets.

Oregon sighed as the Abyssals broke contact and fell back for the moment in the wake of overwhelming air superiority.

* * *

"The Ixtls have contact in the sublevel and the attack is faltering!" Someone shouted, causing Rosie to flinch as she, Iowa, a couple of other shipgirls she didn't recognize and human guarded by two terrorists... Cultists... Cultorists...? Whatever... Whom idled about in a hotel room.

"What do we do now?" The first asked, their body language tense.

"Wait for further orders." The second stated.

"What about the guy who was already in here?"

"We don't kill the hostages unless we're ordered to do so"

Out of the corner of her eye Rosie could see as the human hostage stand up.

"You there! Back on your knees!" One of the terrorists shouted.

"GET BACK ON YOUR KNEES GAIJIN!" The other yelled.

"ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!" The man shouted as he slammed a fist into a specific area of his suit while the terrorists began blindly shooting in hopes of killing him.

Then everything was smoke and fire before Rosie's vision blacked out.

* * *

Outside a blast billowed from the side of the building as hundreds of law enforcement officers and military police turned their weapons on the hotel. While news cameras caught every second of it.

* * *

["CHIEF!"]

["I'm alright, that blast has stirred up a hornet's nest among the cultists though."]

["What the hell happened up there Major?!"] Batou asked.

["Explosion from one of the rooms, the Army is using a pair of powersuits to cut through the main doors now!"]

["I can see multiple humanoid assault units moving up to the doors from my position Major!"] One of the Tachikomas chirped.

["They're coming down hard if they're using robot infantrymen as the main breaching force."] Togusa muttered.

The deployment of autonomous killing machines had long remained controversial, hence why established protocols always subordinated them to human officers for permission to begin using lethal force.

It wasn't perfect but it was the only solution most were willing to accept.

["Major, we're out of time and options."] Satio stated simply.

["I'll buy you guys some time with my puppet."]

["Roger that, heading up now."] Batou reported.

* * *

As a team of terrorists flanked the main elevator Batou and first team were coming up Motoko's puppet raised his AN-94 Assault rifle.

"Brother Carmichael is everything alright?" One of the newer initiates asked before being gunned down.

"TRAITOR!" Someone else shouted before being cut down prompting similar cries from some others.

"YOU IDIOTS, HE'S BEEN HACKED!" The team leader shouted before being taken down as well.

Three more cultists died before one with heavy cyberization shot the hacked gunman.

He didn't get far before Batou's entry team cut him and the remainder down.

["Batou they took out my puppet, I'm heading in via the Roof. Saito, provide cover."]

["Copy that Major, the alarms are already going off so they won't notice your entry."]

["Not going to look a gift horse in the mouth there."] Motoko muttered as she leapt into the side bay of the waiting utility chopper which rose into the sky soon after.

* * *

The sounds of rapid gunfire led to the detonation of multiple breaching charges by the police, who flooded into the building.

* * *

Rosie blinked as she stared out over her own deck, watching a Soviet destroyer approach their formation, only to turn away when _Oregon_ pointed her massive 18" guns at it, the mere sight of the massive battleship's guns likely unnerving the Soviet crewmen to the point they'd rather watch from a relative distance than risk colliding with a ship that would cleave their tin can in two and suffer only minor damage in the process.

" _This is back during the fifties…"_ Rosie thought.

Indeed, the mix of early jets and props indicated this was during her cruise off the Korean peninsula following _Oregon's_ extensive engine refit, which cost more than two additional _Iowas_ overall due to the amount of skilled work needed to open her up safely enough to replace her engineering and then put her back together again.

Many had assumed it was impossible, including the men who designed the _Yamato_ -class due to the nature of the ship's construction.

Of course, leave it to American engineers to not give a damn and mix finesse and brute force to do so.

Using the original damage control schematics and a few surviving copies of the schematics hidden by an engineer before the IJN special taskforce came to destroy them, _Oregon_ had undergone a lengthy and incredibly costly refit in the very Kure drydock she'd been built as _Yamato_.

Some of the surviving dockworkers relished a chance to turn the lead _Yamato_ -class ship into something truly worthy of being called 'Queen of battleships', others refused on the principle that it was a betrayal of the Imperial cause and yet more were kept away from the dry dock by armed US Marines to prevent sabotage for one reason or another.

In return for the trouble several ships were transferred to the nascent MSDF from the USN, mostly destroyers, escorts or submarines, along with the refurbishment of several remaining IJN destroyers, subs, the Transport Cruiser _Ooi_ and Aviation Cruiser _Suzuya_ , some support ships, and the carrier _Kasagi_ , the last of which was used as a barracks and stores vessel until retired as a museum ship in lieu of Japan's refusal to use a carrier before she herself had been purchased.

Rosie shook her head, she'd gotten sidetracked again, before turning her head to see Oregon sitting atop her number 2 turret, like herself invisible to her crew. The youngest or least experienced ships in the taskforce hadn't even manifested a spiritual form yet.

Among these newbies the ever-hardworking radar picket _Myles C. Fox_ kept up her vigil against Soviet and Red Chinese aircraft.

"Radar contacts, incoming from 10 o'clock… they look like Soviet torpedo bombers." A radar technician muttered.

"Pickets confirm contacts."

Oh right, Rosie mused, she could hear _everything_ that went on in her steel form.

Good thing she could ignore most of the unimportant stuff.

The airborne F9Fs moved to intercept the incoming Soviet planes, if memory served, a pair of Tu-14T 'Bosuns' jet torpedo bombers. Historically they basically circled the fleet a couple times, before flying off, at which point her force promptly went off to meet up with _Midway's_ and _Hornet's_ battle groups near Taiwan.

Contrary to what had really happened the 'Bosuns' accelerated to combat speed, and there were far more than two of them.

And they weren't alone, numerous MiG-17s were among them.

Additional fighters were scrambled from her deck and that of her sister ship _Santa Cruz_ , while AA guns began tracking the paths of the incoming torpedo planes.

The heavy cruiser _Dallas_ opened up with her automatic 8" guns with AA fused shells loaded, knocking down a small number of Soviet bombers at long range.

As the bombers edged closer there was a feeling of dread Rosie just couldn't shake off, not least of which the fact that everything had gone pear-shaped.

Then, as if on que, everything stopped dead, and Rosie watched her fleet turn their guns and torpedo tubes on _her_ with disturbing slowness, their hulls darkening and twisting into something eldritch…

Something Abyssal.

They said nothing as they opened fire, only stared at her in pure hate.

The word _"Traitor"_ echoed in the back of her mind as she woke up.

* * *

Rosie's eyes shot open as she was carried out on a stretcher to a triage tent. Japanese SAT officers, paramedics, and firefighters rushing around, checking rooms, dousing flames, and tending to the wounded.

She tried to sit up but winced as pain wracked her body.

"Easy there… You have shrapnel and a number of bullets embedded in you."

So that's what that sensation of being shot was in her nightmare… Wait, nevermind, she remembered the cultists shooting wildly and realized some of the rounds probably hit _her_ instead of the intended target... Good thing for robust shipgirl biology she mused.

But it didn't answer the base point of her nightmare.

Did many of the other American shipgirls view her service with the JMSDF as tantamount to her being an enemy…?

She didn't think that much of it before… But if they did…

Rosie honestly wasn't sure what she'd do, the IJN girls hated her for being American, the American girls hated her for serving Japan.

And only Oregon might understand her dilemma… Unless Oregon secretly hated her too for it, she did have a lot of issues going on with her...

Rosie mumbled a faint "Goddamnit…" As she slipped back into unconsciousness.

* * *

" _What the hell happened out there!"_ Lycoris Hime snarled as she slammed her fist against the table.

" _Indochina is never going to let us hear the end of this…"_ Midway Hime sighed as she, Lycoris, and Central conferred about the recent raid.

" _We were this close, and then_ another _damn_ Midway _-class shows up!"_

" _ **Have we identified**_ **who** _ **it is?"**_ Central questioned.

" _It appears to be either_ Coral Sea _or_ Santa Cruz _, while Indochina's other side is still trapped in her hull."_ Lycoris reported

" _ **And what about the other five?**_ **Sibuyan Sea, Samar, Theodore Roosevelt, Egano Bay,** _ **and**_ **Bismarck Sea** _**are still unknowns in this."**_ Central questioned.

" _Unknown… We're not sure about them at all."_

Indeed, the prospect of the _Midway_ -class sisters forming the core of the USN's carrier forces was a disturbing thought, European Empress was beyond busy keeping the British _Africa_ -class girls in check and was suffering heavy losses doing so, and there were only three of them built due to RN cutbacks in the forties.

All ten _Midways_ showing up would shift the balance of power away from the Abyss. Especially if they carried nuclear warheads.

That could not be allowed to happen, their control over the seas was tentative enough with the existing shipgirls and divisions within Abyssal lines.

" _ **Then we must accelerate our summoning rituals, hopefully we'll acquire one of them before the enemy can…"**_

 _"I'll contact the rest of the Council... Hopefully Indochina plays ball with us this time"_ Midway said as she walked off.

 _"Don't count on it._ _"_ Lycoris muttered as they each walked away from the council table and returned back to their respective commands.

* * *

"It appears that the hostage situation has been resolved, Police entered the building only to find the terrorists wiped out to a man, with the hostages stating that heavily armed personnel stormed the building in force before vanishing. While some casualties were suffered among the hostages only one fatality, a foreign businessman whom is reported to have detonated a suicide vest." A reporter stated as the hostage crisis came to an abrupt end.

Mutsu let out a sigh of relief, Oregon and the other _Midway_ -class girl had been ecstatic to find out Rosie was still alive.

Speaking of the two, they were waiting in the infirmary for Rosie to wake up after she'd been airlifted back to the base, the fact a primal-class shipgirl had appeared, previously only considered theory, and a _Midway_ -class to boot, was going to send waves through the militaries of numerous nations

Nonetheless the important thing is that they hadn't lost anybody, despite the sizable number of girls stuck in the baths for repairs.

Although as one of the few Axis shipgirls whose hulls had survived to the modern day, Mutsu was concerned about the possibility of another terrorist group, whom had even more thoroughly infiltrated the conference blowing themselves up in the middle of it...

With that as the backdrop, having 41cm cannons offered no comfort when the enemy could be literally anyone...

And everyone...

* * *

Rosie groaned as her eyes fluttered open again, tracking her gaze across the room and spotting Oregon curled up on a couch, and someone looming over her.

"Huh…" White hair and dark skin, Musashi? No... Musashi's eyes were red not blue...

"Hey sis…" Coral Sea said softly, a pained smile on her face.

"Coral…?" Rosie's heartrate increased rapidly, confusion setting in.

"Just rest for now okay… I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner…" Her younger sister said as she rubbed Rosie's head softly.

Rosie drifted off to sleep again as a nurse walked in and injected a sedative into her arm.

"Just sleep okay sis...?" Coral sighed.

Exactly like Rosie to be so stubborn when it came to rolling over and dying.

* * *

Aramaki sighed as Motoko walked back to the transport trucks with him.

"What the hell was with the other guy and the suicide vest" Batou questioned angrily as they walked up.

"A major security lapse to be sure." Motoko stated.

"Regardless, whomever the other group are is something out of our league, we'll focus on the assumed ringleader of the hostage crisis."

"They sounded odd... And looked more like an Abyssal than a human." Motoko mumbled.

"Land based Abyssals aren't unknown, the likelihood of it being an IJN or IJA Officer is very high." Aramaki stated as he looked over the evidence logs.

"It is a known fact that our weapons can kill land based Abyssals... And there are theories that could give us the ability to sink their naval units without resorting to shipgirls." Proto noted.

"Do you think that's a good idea? If we replace them... Their entire purpose revolves around war, some of them can adapt... But I'm not sure anyone else can. The primary purpose of a warship is to project naval power in war and peace, and prove limited in humanitarian roles with few exceptions like aircraft carriers. And a battleship or heavy cruiser is overkill for a coast guard or police force." The Major mused.

"Maybe they're here to remind us that we shouldn't just throw lives away without good purpose..." Togusa mused thoughtfully.

Aramaki nodded at him sagely. "Regardless, our operations are now to refocus on finding the enemy ringleader."

"Alright you heard him people, pack up and move out." Motoko ordered.

Aramaki stared at the business card the suicide bomber handed him earlier in the conference as his subordinates moved about around him and slipped off a false cover, revealing a red stylized frontal image of a Cobra in full threat display.

"Could it be..." He mused.


	13. Announcement

**AN:** This is just an announcement…

As much as I hate it, I'm going to be scrapping this edition of Fireside and totally rewriting it, half the story I've made isn't even focused on the main characters and the Patton stuff would mostly be a side-story at best, I was always iffy on using historical characters due to how controversial some of them are and just did it because I could at the time.

Mostly because I pressed myself to push out chapters instead of thinking things through

So, I'm pretty much just considering scrapping the story, if I can't re-write it. I've also lost what little drive I had because I was writing what I thought was interesting, not what made sense, even in the context of, which was what caused me to end up stalling the last chapter for so long.

Could I have put most of the fluff in a separate story bible type thing or a side-story? Absolutely, I have considered that for months and will probably do so, where it's not clogging up the main story. Other things involving the main characters or major background lore which got passing references should been better explained, such as the extent of Oregon's refits, which logically include far more than just replacing AA guns.

The mechs are non-negotiable, I'll probably remove the WWII iterations and tactical surface fighters since it's so out of place but the Labor units at the very least are sticking around, and there _will_ be explained reasons why.

This will be removed and replaced with a chapter when the rewrite is up to date so please


End file.
